'Take the step forward', urges sexual abuse victim

The victim of sexual abuser William Toner has advised other sufferers of similar non-recent actions to 'take the step forward' and report possible incidents from the past.

Former football coach Toner (aged 74) of Market Street, Whitworth, was jailed for three years and two months at Bolton Crown Court last week.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on a teenage boy during the 1990s.

The court heard how Toner – who was also known as Bill and had links to Oldham – claimed to be a scout from Manchester City Football Club and had links to clubs in Bury, Rochdale and Cambridgeshire.

He first met his victim, an aspiring Bury footballer - by offering one-to-one coaching sessions with him after telling him he had potential.

After the sessions, Toner would inappropriately massage the boy before sexually touching him.

The abuse spanned years and the victim felt he could never tell his family or report the offences to police.

He eventually turned his back on the sport and stopped playing shortly after in a bid to escape the abuse.

However, following national coverage of non-recent sex abuse in football, he bravely reported Toner to Manchester City Football Club, who encouraged him to contact the NSPCC in 2016 - who in turn contacted Greater Manchester Police.

The victim said: "You (other victims) are not alone.

"The feelings that you have, the thought processes you have are normal. You’re not abnormal.

"Being able to take that step forward and say ‘this happened to me’ is hard.

"But the charities like Survivors who deal with male abuse are amazing.

"Even if you can’t take the legal route and bring that person to justice you can still get the help that you need from people like Survivors and the NSPCC.

"It’s just being able to take that step forward.”

How do the victim feel about Toner's sentence?

“I personally wasn’t bothered how long my abuser got," he said.

"If it was just a day or whatever. It was more that the police took you seriously.

"You were sat down, you were treated with dignity. The whole legal process, for me, was really good.

"A lot of people worry that they come forward and that’s it, they’re just gonna get abandoned, and they’re not.

“I was guided towards Survivors.

"I had welfare checks to make sure I was okay and that I was dealing with everything okay and my general wellbeing was heavily thought of.”

Greater Manchester is a fantastic place for sport and the authorities want to ensure this is a safe space for children and young people.

To report child sexual exploitation, call police on 101 or 999 if a child is in immediate danger.

Alternatively, visit: www.itsnotokay.co.uk to find contact details for local ‘It’s Not Okay’ team.

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