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A leading figure in Premier League football has reportedly been accused by two women of rapes committed in the 1990s. The figure, who has not been identified in accordance with British laws affording anonymity to accused persons in the early stages of an investigation, continues to work at English football’s highest echelons and has not been suspended.
According to the reports by The Athletic, the figure was alleged to have raped a woman when she was fifteen years old. This complaint led to detectives finding out that the accused was simultaneously being investigated for another rape, also of an underage girl around the same time period as the new complaint. Sexual crimes have allegedly taken place in the 1990s when both victims were underage. One of the girls was fifteen years old and the other’s exact age is unknown, though the police have revealed she was a teenager.
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One of the women, called Woman B by The Athletic, made her complaint in 2021, after which it was referred to a specialized unit focussing on crimes against minors. Woman B alleged that the crime took place in the accused’s home. Unfortunately for the victim, the police realized that her case fell under a very specific and controversial British law, namely the 1956 Sexual Offences Act.
This piece of legislation stated that if an alleged offense took place between 1956 and 2004, and the girl was aged between 13 and 15, the complaint must be made within a year of the offense being committed. Though the law has been scrapped by the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which came into place in 2004, the old law still applied to cases that occurred in the preceding 48 years. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided that no further action had to be taken in Woman B’s case and the accused was not arrested.
The age of Woman A, whose case was already under investigation when Woman B came forward, has not been released. It is under investigation by the London Metropolitan Police. The Met Police did not reveal the age of the woman to The Athletic. Her age is a point of serious consideration because it might lead to her case also being thrown out by the CPS. Furthermore, if the age was low enough to qualify the case as a “child-sex offense” then the Football Association is able to suspend the accused under a safeguarding measure.
