Durham's failure to contact abuse victims 'concern'

DURHAM County Cricket Club's failure to contact abuse victims or to review safeguarding procedures even after a former coach was convicted on multiple occasions of child sex offences is "a matter of concern", a review has found.

- JAMIE GARDNER

The club have issued an apology following the publication of an independent review into offending by Michael Strange, 65, who as well as coaching local clubs in the North East served as a junior coach and scouted for Durham's talent pathway in the Gateshead area from the mid-1990s until the early part of the next decade.

Strange has previously been convicted of 34 separate offences of indecent assault, rape and gross indecency against 10 victims between 1993 and 2004.

Northumbria Police officers who contributed to the independent review published yesterday believe the true extent of Strange's abuse runs into "hundreds" of instances.

The review concluded that while no one knew he was sexually abusing boys at the time, there was a failure by Strange's peers at his clubs and Durham to "join the dots" or to challenge inappropriate behaviour, such as the well-known fact that he possessed and shared pornographic material with young players.

There was also criticism of the "retrospective lack of recognition" from Durham when his offending became widely known through media reporting.