There are lies, damn lies, and rumours

Everybody knew that the famous sports figure had abused the child. Everybody knew he was the man at the centre of the X case, in which a 14-year-old girl was initially stopped from travelling to the UK for an abortion in 1992.

Everybody knew he was the man who had impregnated the girl. Or something like that. Even the dogs in the street were aware of the details.

So went the rumour — elevated to the status of Gospel — around the country over two decades ago. The sportsman had been a popular figure but that didn’t stop the “truth” spreading like wildfire.