Predatory paedophile abused young players over decades as football coach and met with 'unavoidable' death in prison

James McCafferty, 76, who worked at Celtic as well as Falkirk and Hibs football clubs, was found dead in bed at Glenochil Prison, in Clackmannanshire at 4am on November 19, 2022, by staff carrying out regular checks.

A fatal accident inquiry at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Thursday heard McCafferty had been “in very poor health”, needed a walking frame or a wheelchair to get around, was suffering from mild to severe dementia, had suffered a series of strokes, multiple hospital admissions for sepsis, and needed daily nursing.

He also had a kind of benign brain tumour, known as a frontal lobe meningioma.

A GP had certified it was not in his best interests to be treated acutely and he was certified DNR.

A post mortem found death was due to atherosclerotic cadiovascular disease.

McCafferty was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2019 for a string of sex attacks on players at Celtic from 1972 to 1996.

He had pleaded guilty to six charges of indecent assault, four charges of indecently assaulting children, lewd and libidinous practices and behaviour boys against boys aged as young as 11, and breach of the peace, all while he was a football coach at Celtic Boys Football Club and Celtic Football Club.

Jailing him for six years and nine months, judge Lord Beckett told him: “You took advantage of your position of trust as a football coach to groom and then sexually abuse boys who played for your teams.”

It was his second conviction – he was jailed for three years and nine months in 2018 after admitting eight counts of sexual assault on a 14-year-old child in Northern Ireland between 2012 and 2015.

The fatal accident inquiry heard McCafferty, who had been transferred to Glenochil Prison from HMP Addiewell in West Lothian, needed daily nursing and two-hourly checks.

The inquiry heard his death was unavoidable.

Sheriff Alison Michie, presiding, stated she would make a formal determination in writing.