West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been banned from having contact with the club's women's and youth teams for the last three years because of safeguarding concerns.

The Football Association opened a safeguarding investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about the conduct of Sullivan, the co-owner and then the co-chair, of West Ham United.

In response, a safeguarding group made up of the club, the FA and the local authority decided to prevent Sullivan from having access to his own club's youth and women's teams, the BBC has learned.

In a new statement Sullivan said he had never met any academy or women's team players "1-2-1" during his 16 years at West Ham. He has previously said he denies allegations of wrongdoing.

In a statement issued on Wednesday he said that he had entered into "a negotiated and temporary agreement with the FA" not to meet academy or team players 1-2-1 until a historical anonymous complaint was resolved. He said the complaint "had nothing to do about my time in football and it never happened".

"I saw it as a meaningless restriction, as it didn't impact on my work in any way, therefore I accepted it for a quiet life," he said.

Sullivan said it was inaccurate to describe this agreement as a "disciplinary 'ban'".

He has also been prevented from attending the women's and youth club matches, with the ban remaining in place to the present day.

The restrictions were not made public and Sullivan remained a prominent figure in the club, regularly appearing in the director's box for the men's team games at the London Stadium.

He remains the club's largest shareholder, although he resigned as co-chair and a director of West Ham on Saturday ahead of the BBC and Times investigation, in which multiple women accused the billionaire businessman of abusing his power and preying on them for sex.

Denying the allegations, he said he wanted to focus on fighting what he called "factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life", describing the investigation as "fundamentally unfair".

West Ham and the Football Association both said they have robust safeguarding measures but cannot comment on individual cases.

The allegations span decades when Sullivan made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football.

All come from women who were in their late teens or early twenties and were young models seeking work at Sullivan's Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.

The BBC and Times investigation also revealed that eight women, including one who was part of the investigation, have gone to the police with disclosures about Sullivan's conduct. None of those cases have resulted in charges.

The Metropolitan Police said it takes such allegations "extremely seriously" and "any information or evidence provided to police will be assessed and the appropriate enquiries carried out".

The Independent Football Regulator said it contacted West Ham over "extremely serious allegations" raised about Sullivan and said it was seeking "urgent information" from him about his suitability for the role.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesperson called the women's accounts "harrowing".

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy described the latest revelations as "utterly horrifying".

"If it is the case that an investigation concluded that there were sufficiently serious allegations to warrant a ban on contact with the youth and women's teams, then the FA must explain this decision and why no further action was taken," she said.

"I expect a full and urgent explanation from the FA and West Ham as to how these incredibly serious allegations have been handled."

Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones, the former victims minister and Labour MP, said she was "horrified but sadly not surprised when she first heard of the allegations against David Sullivan".

She called for a review of how the police have handled disclosures made about Sullivan, and into what action had been taken by the FA and West Ham.

West Ham said it had clear and robust safeguarding measures in place and the club was unable to comment or provide details on "any individual safeguarding matter as per standard practice in the industry".

In his resignation statement, Sullivan said that "after a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me".

The 77-year-old had held the joint chairman position for 16 years, and was the club's largest single shareholder following the death of his business partner, David Gold, in January 2023. (BBC)

Update news