Sex charge footballer may not play for Hearts again

The Edinburgh-based Scottish Premier League (SPL) club Heart of Midlothian said it had carried out a “detailed investigation” into the behaviour of Craig Thomson and decided that “mitigating circumstances” meant that he would be retained by the club and would “resume training with immediate effect”.

But the decision has been condemned by child protection organisations and one of the club’s sponsors – the bottled water company MacB – has announced that it is ending sponsorship of the club with immediate effect in protest.

The young full-back was left behind when the team left for a pre-season training camp in Italy at the weekend and the Hearts manager, Jim Jeffries, has suggested that he might not be selected again.

He said: “We have to make sure that if Craig ever gets back in the team – and let’s not forget there’s competition for places – how will he handle what’s coming to him?”

“This is the worst thing I have ever had to deal with.” Hearts manager Jim Jeffries

Jeffries warned that the affair could not be allowed to become “a sideshow” and affect the performance of the rest of the team.

“This is the worst thing I have ever had to deal with,” he added. “Of course, part of a manager’s life is dealing with situations. You accept as a manager that you’ll have to deal with problems along the road. But I have to be honest and say that I’ve never felt like this.”

On Wednesday, the club announced on its website that Thomson had been suspended with immediate effect.

Thomson, a Scotland under-21 international, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two charges of “lewd, libidinous and indecent behaviour” towards two school girls, aged 12 and 14. He admitted sending them images of male genitalia over the internet, making lewd comments and asking one of them for sex. He was fined £4,000 and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.

But on Friday the club issued two statements. The first said that, while it viewed the matter very seriously and did not condone his behaviour, it felt there was no reason for him not to continue his footballing career.

“In reaching this decision, the club accepted that there are sufficient mitigating circumstances that provide significant assurance that the player’s conduct, no matter how distasteful, was the result of a grave error of judgement due to naivety and possible wrong outside influence, rather than anything more sinister and it will not be repeated,” it added.

‘Crooks, criminals and thieves’

The second statement, issued under the names of the Hearts Board of Directors, spoke of a “mafia”, which was seeking to damage the club.

“For almost seven years we have been fighting to shield the club from crooks, criminals and thieves,” it said. “Many of the top players at the club have felt the bitter results of the swindles which have been carried out with them on their own skin.”

The player himself also issued a statement apologising for his actions.

“I was wrong for what I did and will, rightfully, accept my punishment for my errant conduct,” he said. “I am fully aware that I have let everyone down and I am truly sorry for that.”

But criticism of the club’s decision to keep him on has been growing over the weekend, with child protection charities and politicians adding their voices to the protest. And on Monday, the bottled water company, MacB, said it had decided to terminate its £5,000-a-year sponsorship deal to provide water for the squad.

The company, which provides bottled water to all but three of the teams in the SPL and is a shirt sponsor for Partick Thistle, said it had been left with no choice.

“As a company with strong family values, we are left with no choice but to terminate our relationship with the Hearts football club,” it said in a statement. “Along with countless others – fans and co-sponsors alike – we are extremely disappointed with the club’s handling of this situation and as a result can no longer continue our support.”