A Highland football coach accused of sexually assaulting two boys broke down in tears today as he proclaimed his innocence to the jury.
Mark McAuley, who ran children’s after-school football coaching sessions across Ross-shire and Sutherland, said he had waited more than two years to clear his name and the “pain is impossible”.
The third day of the trial against the 33-year-old saw him acquitted on four of the charges he had initially faced following legal arguments.
The jury at Inverness Sheriff Court is now only being asked to consider two charges of sexual assault on boys under 13, one of sexual activity with or toward a boy under 16 and two charges of directing sexual verbal communications to children.
McAuley, of Pitdinnie Place, Dunfermline, denies all the charges, alleged to have taken place between 2016 and 2019.
Accused takes to the stand
The court had previously heard from teenagers who said McAuley shared his bed with them and massaged their legs, with one of them claiming the coach had touched him intimately and another saying no line had been crossed.
Under questioning from defence counsel Wendy Culross, McAuley explained that the sleeping arrangement had simply been a practical one, as the property where he would look after the boys overnight with their mothers’ knowledge only had one bedroom and he did not have spare bedding.
He also explained that he had only detailed a sexual act to two boys because one of them had asked him to explain it and he did not want them to seek answers elsewhere.
He said: “Google is a dangerous place. If they don’t get the answers from a trusted adult they will seek it somewhere else. I was protecting them from going down a dark hole.”
‘I have been alleged to have done something I didn’t do’
During the course of his evidence McAuley, who revealed he had applied and been accepted for a job with Police Scotland prior to his arrest, broke down in tears.
He told the court: “I walked a very fine line of being their football coach, their friend, their cousin, their brother – every single relationship a teenager needs in their lives I walked that fine line.”
Asked if he regretted his actions, he said: “I regret it now because of how it was looked at by outsiders with no context.”
“I loved those boys like they were my family,” he added.
Commenting on the trial, McAuley said: “I want to move on with my life. The pain is impossible.
“I have had to wait two and a half years to have this day in court to prove my innocence.”
Closing speeches
In her closing speech to the jury, Ms Culross said: “What he did, while perhaps displaying very poor judgement, was not criminal.
“The mums trusted Mark – they were not wrong to do that.”
Fiscal depute Susan Love, however, told the jurors that the evidence that has been heard of the last three days “painted a picture of a coach who inserted himself into a family that was going through a hard time.”
“He was in a position of trust and he abused that trust,” she said. “Why would a grown adult have two young boys sleeping in his bed with him?”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald will deliver her charge tomorrow morning before they are asked to consider their verdict.
