Brighton man sexually abused by football coach as a child speaks out

Wayne Groves kept quiet about the abuse he endured at the hands of David Hughes for three decades.

The attacks on Wayne, who lives in Brighton, began at the age of 11 after Hughes groomed him with expensive football kits and cinema tickets.

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After eventually going to the police in 2018, Hughes was arrested.

More of Hughes’ victims joined the fight, but the predator denied all charges before being found guilty of 14 offences against four boys aged between eight and 15.

He faces sentencing later this month.

David Hughes

Wayne, now 42, says he hopes speaking out about the abuse will help kickstart the healing process.

“Dave took me to watch Jurassic Park at the cinema and bought me an away Manchester United strip, things my family couldn't afford,” he said.

"He would apply body lotion to myself, and I would do the same to him."

Wayne said Hughes would touch his genitalia and cuddle him while he slept.

"I was frozen in the foetal position - I was a young boy," he said.

I knew it was weird at the time and can't understand why I let all this happen to me."

Wayne Groves

Wayne first met Hughes, who was nicknamed Apple due to his over-sized Adam’s apple, when playing in the New Addington Little League in Croydon in the 1980s.

"In my heart of hearts, I knew he was a bit weird, and it was an ongoing thing on the estate that he was a bit of a funny guy around young men,” Wayne said.

“He knew how to talk to kids, he knew the sort of children he’d target with poor backgrounds who couldn’t afford a Manchester United strip and it would escalate.

"But no one ever spoke about it, it was kind of the elephant in the room."

Wayne said he would see Hughes up to three times a week and would be invited to his house at least once a fortnight.

He says Hughes would often convince him to go back to his house to try on a new football kit, and was sexually abused by Hughes in this way on at least five occasions over two years.

Wayne Groves

The effects of the abuse have haunted Wayne forever, as he now suffers from PTSD and depression.

Despite not having worked for several years for health reasons, Wayne spent 20 years working in a youth offending team and care homes in an attempt to help other young people – but never told his story.

The father-of-two said: "It makes me feel quite upset. I'm not saying I'm the strongest person, but you've got to be strong to come forward as a young man about this.

"People say it's all finished now but it's just the beginning. I have tried to use my life to help others make the right choices or give advice.”

Upon his arrest in 2018, the volunteer football coach was found with a black holdall with children’s underwear inside.

More items of new underwear were found during a search of his address.

Hughes was found guilty of ten counts of indecent assault on three boys aged eight to 13, two counts of sexual activity with a boy aged 13 to 15 and two counts of causing the same boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.

The first ten offences took place between 1988 and 1995, when Hughes was employed as a youth football worker, while the other offences were committed in 2017 and 2018 independently of his employment.

Detective Constable Pete Brewster, from Central Specialist Crime with the Met Police, said: “In committing these offences, Hughes demonstrated premeditated, predatory behaviour spanning almost 30 years.

"He should have been someone the children, and their families, could trust.

"Hughes betrayed this trust, abusing vulnerable children who described feeling unable, ashamed and embarrassed to tell anyone what he had done to them.

“Those who suffered at the hands of Hughes in the 1990s describe how his offending continues to affect them today and say their reports to police in 2018 and 2019 were an important step in ‘moving on’ with their lives.

“It is only through the bravery of all of the victims in this case to report the abuse they suffered and support the police investigation that Hughes has been convicted of these offences.”