Norway football referee admits sexual abuse against several hundred boys

A 26-year-old former football referee in Norway has been prosecuted and acknowledged committing sexual abuse against several hundred boys, news agency NTB reported Tuesday.

In the case, which police described as Norway's largest case of abuse, 450 victims, aged 10 to 18 years, were involved.

By pretending to be a girl named Sandra, the accused man managed to get hundreds of young boys to send him films of sexual acts they committed.

The evidence against him includes pictures, movies and chat logs extracted from his computer equipment, the report said.

"He acknowledges the conditions described in the indictment but will respond negatively in whole or in part to some of the questions of guilt," the man's defender Gunhild Laerum told NTB.

The victims come from all over Norway and from other Nordic countries.

According to state's attorney Guro Hansson Bull, 10 of the victims have also met the man personally and, according to the charges, sexual acts have been carried out, some of which has been filmed.

The man was arrested for the first time in July 2016 but was released after a couple of weeks in custody. After that, he committed more assaults, which led him to be arrested again in October.

The court procedure of the case will last for 180 days and is scheduled to end on Sept. 30.