Former Newcastle United soccer player Derek Bell has said he wanted to kill the man who sexually abused him as a young boy.
Bell said he was groomed and abused between the ages of 12 and 16 by his coach George Ormond while playing for Montagu and North Fenham boys football club in the United Kingdom during the 1970s.
After injury curtailed his senior career, Bell later encountered Ormond again while working for Newcastle city council's housing department.
According to the Guardian newspaper, Bell spotted Ormond hiding behind a tree in the grounds of a youth hostel used to house vulnerable refugee teenagers.
"I have lived hell for years," Bell told BBC Radio 5 Live. "And this (seeing Ormond) just blew my head. So after that, I went home, and talked about it.
"And I was going to kill the guy. I thought, no, I can't live any more, everywhere I seem to go he's there ... This brought back all the memories to the forefront of my head, and I wanted to kill the guy.
"I went to his house with a 12-inch knife hidden in my pocket and I kicked his door in. Luckily for him, that evening, he wasn't in. I went round his house and he wasn't there.
"I came out of the house and the neighbours obviously had seen what was happening and they came out and they said, 'What are you doing?' type of thing, and I left the scene."
Bell then resolved to bring Ormond to justice by secretly recording him on tape.
"I told my friends at that point because I'd kept it a secret for a lot of years," Bell said.
"I went and told my close friends, who've been absolutely incredibly supportive, and told them what had happened to me, and they said 'right let's do something about it'. But I said, 'No I'll do something about it'.
"So I went to his house a couple of days later, on a Sunday morning, early morning 8 o'clock. Knocked on his door, had a tape recorder in my pocket, and I just asked him the questions - why, why, why, what was his motivation to find a need to constantly abuse me, threaten me, bribe me, befriend my family? All them sort of questions.
"And not one time did he say he was sorry. He just said: 'I don't know why'. His main aim was, 'you're not going to tell the police are you?'"
After more than 20 years coaching at Montagu and North Fenham boys football club, Ormond took a job with Newcastle in the 1990s and was involved in the youth set-up there for around three years.
Ormond was convicted of indecent assaults in 2002 and sentenced to six years in prison.
Bell said: "It's not about me. It's about raising awareness for victims.
"I've been through the court system so (I want to) help any victims come forward and also to give support to victims who do come forward.
"Be brave, don't be ashamed. Don't live in silence. If I can help in any way - please pick up the phone to the NSPCC or the PFA, talk to your parents or talk to your clubs about this."
The Football Association has commissioned a "dedicated NSPCC helpline for adults who were victims of sexual abuse in childhood within the football industry" which can be contacted at all hours.
PA
