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Police are looking into new sexual abuse allegations against a former Durham cricket coach.<\/p>\n
The PA news agency has learned Northumbria Police are investigating a further report of non-recent abuse by 63-year-old Michael Strange, which is again understood to be in connection to his role as a coach.<\/p>\n
Strange was labelled a \u201cmonster\u201d by police after he was sentenced for child sexual offences for a fifth time last week, having admitted a charge of indecent assault against a 15-year-old boy dating back to the 1990s.<\/p>\n
He robbed multiple promising young cricket stars of their innocence. He is the definition of a monster.<\/p>\n
He admitted the charge at South Shields Magistrates\u2019 Court on August 9, and the following day the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed it would conduct an internally-led review of Strange\u2019s offending.<\/p>\n
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Strange was a coach in the junior set-up at Durham County Cricket Club and worked as a coach at local clubs in the north-east<\/p>\n
The new police investigation is understood to be in the very early stages.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday he was handed a two-year extension to the 40-month jail sentence imposed upon him in January 2022.<\/p>\n
He had previously been convicted in 2012, 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n
The complainant in the case which concluded last week said in his victim personal statement he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d at the failure of the ECB and other cricketing authorities to identify Strange\u2019s offending earlier.<\/p>\n
He said the authorities had failed to protect him \u201cand countless others\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope safeguarding measures are constantly reviewed to prevent similar incidents in future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The man added in his statement: \u201cFor over 20 years the actions and behaviour of Michael Strange has been an embarrassing secret.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt disgust, shame and guilt, but never had the courage to speak to anyone until now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer in charge of the case, Detective Constable Lisa Herron of Northumbria Police, said following his sentencing last week: \u201cStrange, once revered as a \u2018hero\u2019 in cricket circles, is a dangerous predator who preyed on young boys under his tutorage in the most sickening of ways.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe robbed multiple promising young cricket stars of their innocence. He is the definition of a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ECB faced calls for an independent review from another of Strange\u2019s victims last year.<\/p>\n
David, who was interviewed by PA in October 2022 after being involved in the case which led to Strange\u2019s 2016 conviction, said: \u201cI think it would be beneficial (to hold a review).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be worrying for people who have been involved to bring it all up again. I can quite confidently say there\u2019s other people out there who\u2019ve been a victim of Strange (who haven\u2019t come forward yet).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe publicity that could prompt someone to speak out is a better thing than not doing anything at all. Yes it\u2019s going to have negatives, but if there are any positives at all out there, it\u2019s better to look for them than hide away the negatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ECB said following last week\u2019s sentencing: \u201cThe thoughts of everyone at the ECB and within the game are with all the victims of Michael Strange and we applaud and commend their bravery in coming forwards. Everyone should be safe playing cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael Strange has not been involved in cricket since he was suspended from all cricket activity in May 2005, so the full scope of his crimes are only clear to us now. We are distraught that he was able to commit these crimes.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe landscape of safeguarding has changed enormously in 18 years, but we have worked with statutory partners on this case and we have commenced an internally-led review to establish further information about the environment in which Strange committed his offences within cricket to inform best practice and to further develop ECB\u2019s safeguarding strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December 2022, the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit, which audits national governing bodies annually, concluded the ECB is meeting the unit\u2019s safeguarding standards.<\/p>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"