Quantcast
Channel: The Girl Headlines on One News Page [United Kingdom]
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17400

Choirmaster jailed for sexually abusing pupil seeks to appeal against sentence

$
0
0
Michael Brewer, the former music director at Chetham's who was jailed in March, has also been stripped of his OBE

Disgraced choirmaster Michael Brewer is to attempt to appeal against the length of his six-year prison sentence for indecently assaulting a former pupil.

The ex-music director at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester was jailed in March after he was convicted of child sex offences against Frances Andrade, who took her life at her home during his trial.

On Tuesday, it emerged that Brewer, 68, had been stripped of his OBE, awarded for services to music in December 1994.

Brewer has lodged an application seeking permission to appeal against his sentence.

The matter will be dealt with by the lord chief justice, sitting with two other judges, at the court of appeal on 12 June.

The judges will decide whether to grant permission and then hear the full appeal.

Brewer, of Swarthmore Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, was convicted at Manchester crown court of five counts of indecently assaulting Andrade when she was 14 and 15.

He was cleared of raping Andrade when she was 18 at his then home in Chorlton, Manchester.

Sentencing him, Judge Martin Rudland labelled Brewer "a predatory sex offender" and said he used his powerful position to select and groom his victims.

Brewer also targeted a 17-year-old student at Chetham's and fondled her in his office, while another 17-year-old girl was said to have been pinned up against a wall during a school trip and sexually propositioned.

He resigned as music director at Chetham's at about the same time he was awarded his OBE after the affair with the girl he fondled in his office was uncovered.

But the affair was hushed up, his trial heard, and Brewer went on to become the artistic director of the National Youth Choirs of Britain, to direct the World Youth Choir, serve as an adjudicator in international competitions and lead BBC workshops for the programme Last Choir Standing in 2008.

Brewer's ex-wife, Kay, 68, was jailed for 21 months after she was convicted at the same trial of indecently assaulting Andrade when she was 18.

The trial heard allegations that sexual activity between teachers and pupils at Chetham's was not uncommon.

Ten key suspects have been identified in a wide-ranging inquiry by Greater Manchester police called Operation Kiso, which is also looking at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

Those suspects either taught at Chetham's, the RNCM or privately. Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17400

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>