Reports from the Malcolm Layfield Trial
Posted: June 2, 2015 Filed under: Abuse, Chetham's, Music - General, Musical Education | Tags: amy welch, chetham's, clare fallon, dave guest, Frances Andrade, helen pidd, Malcolm Layfield, michael brewer, music, music school abuse, nicholas smith, Royal Northern College of Music 8 CommentsIn this blog post, which I will update regularly, I will be posting all available reports from the rape trial of former Chetham’s violin teacher and Head of Strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, Malcolm Layfield. As this is a live trial at the time of posting, there will be no comment whatsoever, and any comments posted below which would be even remotely prejudicial will be instantly removed. There are also several reporters live tweeting from the trial, and I will endeavour to include their tweets here too.
Day 1: Monday June 1st, 2015
Tweets from @helenpidd , Northern Editor of The Guardian
I’m in Manchester crown court to report on the rape trial of former Chetham’s and Royal College of Music teacher, Malcolm Layfield.
Apologies: Malcolm Layfield was head of strings at the RNCM until February 2013.
Malcolm Layfield’s rape trial has not begun yet. A jury should be empanelled this afternoon and the prosecution will open the case.
Malcolm Layfield admits “inappropriate sexual relationships” with a number of pupils, including the complainant, but denies 1 count of rape.
One of Malcolm Layfield’s pupils claims he plied her with drink and drove her to “the middle of nowhere” and raped her when she was 18.
A police video interview given by Layfield’s alleged victim is shown to the jury. Supervision “woefully inadequate” at Chetham’s in 1982.
Victim says Layfield groomed her by confiding in her about an affair he was having with a woman in London. “I was his confidante.”
After the rape the victim went to the RNCM where she had consensual sex with Layfield for a 6 week period, usually in the back of his car…
“He called it an affair but it wasn’t. There was no affection, no romance. It was him abusing his power to get sex.” Layfield’s complainant.
…but once he instigated sex at his house in Didsbury, South Manchester, when his wife and children were home:” absolutely disgusting”.
Tweets from @mrdaveguest , BBC Northwest Tonight chief reporter
Former head of strings at Royal Northern College of music in court accused of raping a student in 1982.
Malcolm Layfield denies the allegation but prosecution claim he used his power and influence to get what he wanted from the teenager.
In video interview Mr Layfield’s accuser says: “He was going to have sex with me and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Accuser says she told RNCM about Mr Layfield in 2001 when he was promoted to Head of Strings.
She added: “it was absolutely disgraceful that he was made Head of Strings.”
Malcolm Layfield’s accuser says they had sexual relationship when she was student at RNCM and he worked there but she says”it was sordid.”
Press Association Mediapoint, June 1st, 2015
Kim Pilling, ‘Violin Teacher ‘Used Power to Rape”
A violin teacher improperly used his “power and influence” to rape an 18-year-old female student, a jury has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about “abuse of power” in the early 1980s by the defendant who worked at the “world renowned” Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester.
Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said: “He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent.
“It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.
“He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of female students.
“The complainant in this case was one such student.”
He told the jury that the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.
Mr Cadwallader said: “For the ambitious student, her violin teacher was critical.
“Not only for her progress at those two institutions, Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, but also for his influence on her future music career.
“We suggest that he used that power and influence in an improper and inappropriate way, in essence, to obtain sex.”
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape.
Mr Cadwallader said the complainant accepted she “went along” with the sexual relationship “however reluctant she may have been”, but the exception was the first encounter.
The complainant was among a number of students who attended a summer course run by Layfield and his wife.
Layfield was said to have provided “a strong alcoholic punch” for the group and plied his accuser with whisky, the court heard.
His alleged victim escaped his attentions as she got into her sleeping bag upstairs but recalled him telling her to get up.
Mr Cadwallader said: “She remembers getting into his car but cannot really remember how she got there. She was very drunk by that time.
“It is the prosecution case that he (Layfield) knew full well that she was very drunk. Indeed the Crown say he was largely responsible for that.
“In her befuddled drunken state she thought he wanted to talk to her as he did in the past.
“She soon realised that it was not the case because he took her in his car to an isolated spot and got into the back of the car.
“By then she realised he was going to have sex with her, come what may, and she felt she could do nothing about it.
“She tried moving away from him, to no avail. She was frightened, she gave in.
“Submission, members of the jury, is not necessarily consent. The Crown say he knew full well at that time she was not consenting.”
He said the early 1980s was “a very different world” in which the Crown suggested that no-one would have believed her.
He said this was “perhaps illustrated” in 2001 when the complainant and others complained to the Royal Northern College of Music about Layfield’s inappropriate relationships with female pupils.
Mr Cadwallader said: “The result? He was made head of strings at the college. Promoted.
“So, members of the jury, why did she then – however reluctantly – have a consensual sexual relationship with him after the incident in Cornwall?
“The answer, the prosecution say, is power and influence.
“He had power over her progress at the college and influence over her future career within the music world.”
The jury was played a video of the police interview with the complainant.
She said she had studied at Chetham’s from the age of 14 where supervision was “woefully inadequate” and students were allowed to “run riot”.
She told a detective: “Malcolm went out of his way to cultivate a relationship where he was the mentor, the father figure.
“He always wanted to know what everyone was doing … inappropriate conversations. He wanted to be extra-friendly.”
She said he bought alcohol in the pub for under-age students on a previous school trip.
During the Cornwall trip, she said, he confided in her that he was cheating on his wife with a woman in London.
Recalling the alleged rape, she said: “There was no violence but he was using his strength.
“I suppose I just gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since. In some ways I was protecting him … how could he do that to someone? He clearly had no respect for women. He clearly targets women. I was a target.
“He knew he was going to do this. I couldn’t deal with it.”
She said she went on have sex with him in the back of his car in disused areas after lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
The complainant said Layfield initiated sex with her on one occasion at his former home in Didsbury while his wife and children were in the house.
She said: “I was just going along with it. I didn’t want it. I didn’t fancy him.
“I was just not equipped to deal with it.
“He called them affairs. It was not an affair for me. There was no romance. It was just him abusing his power to get sex.”
She said he later told her that if she changed teachers at the college he would take all her freelance work away from her.
“Again, I was under his influence,” she said. “I really thought he was going to do that.
“He was a real bully as well. He was only interested in his own career and getting on in the music business.”
She said she would cry during lessons with him before the relationship eventually fizzled out.
The complainant said her memories of the alleged incident were later “triggered” when Layfield was appointed head of strings at the college, which she found “absolutely disgraceful”.
She said she rang Professor Edward Gregson, then principal of the RNCM, but said she got the impression that unless she was prepared to “cry rape” and go to court then Layfield would not have the job taken away from him.
The complainant said she felt “fobbed off” and she was not prepared to take it any further legally at that stage.
Asked by the interviewing officer how the alleged rape affected her life, she replied: “I never like being a victim. I am not that sort of person.
“I really hate him. I have spent far too long thinking about it. What I really, really want is closure.”
The trial continues tomorrow when the complainant will give evidence.
Slipped Disc, June 1st, 2015
Norman Lebrecht, ‘The Third Chetham’s Sex Abuse Trial Begins’
The rape trial has opened at Manchester Crown Court of Malcolm Layfield, former violin teacher at Chethams School and head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Layfield is an internationally known teacher and performer. Founder of the Goldberg Ensemble, he has appeared at New York’s international Bang on a Can festival and claims to have played as concertmaster at the Carmel Bach Festival in California*. He was also leader of the London Bach Orchestra.
According to prosecution statements tweeted from the court by the Guardian’s Helen Pidd:
– In the summer of 1982 Malcolm Layfield raped an 18-year-old pupil he taught the violin, Manchester crown court hears.
– Malcolm Layfield admits “inappropriate sexual relationships” with a number of pupils, including the complainant, but denies 1 count of rape.
– One of Malcolm Layfield’s pupils claims he plied her with drink and drove her to “the middle of nowhere” and raped her when she was 18.
– A police video interview given by Layfield’s alleged victim is shown to the jury. Supervision “woefully inadequate” at Chetham’s in 1982.
The BBC’s Dave Guest adds:
– In video interview Mr Layfield’s accuser says: “He was going to have sex with me and there was nothing I could do about it.”
For updates on the trial follow @helenpidd and @mrdaveguest.
This is the third of five likely trials exposing allegations of decades of sexual abuse at Chetham’s and RNCM.
Michael Brewer, Chetham’s former Director of Music, was jailed for six years for assaults on a 14 year-old girl; his accuser, Frances Andrade, killed herself during the course of the trial.
Nicholas Smith, a conducting teacher, was jailed last year for eight months.
After Layfield, trials are expected of Wen Zhou Li and Chris Ling, both ex-Chet’s teachers.
The present head of Chet’s, Claire Moreland, who was not there at the time of the alleged offences, has announced her early retirement.
Here’s a PA report on the trial’s first day.
* Update: we are informed by the Carmel Bach Festival that he participated once, in 1994, as second chair in the first violins, not as concertmaster.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed offence in back of his car
The jury were told it was a case about ‘abuse of power’ by the defendant
He worked at ‘world renowned’ Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester
Court told the pair did have a six-month consensual sexual relationship
A violin teacher at a world famous music school allegedly used his ‘power and influence’ to rape an 18-year-old female student during a trip to Cornwall, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during the trip after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol in the early 1980s.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about an ‘abuse of power’ by the defendant who worked at the ‘world renowned’ Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester.
Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said: ‘He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent.
‘It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.
‘He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of female students.
‘The complainant in this case was one such student.’
He told the jury that the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks, but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.
Mr Cadwallader said: ‘For the ambitious student, her violin teacher was critical.
‘Not only for her progress at those two institutions, Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, but also for his influence on her future music career.
‘We suggest that he used that power and influence in an improper and inappropriate way, in essence, to obtain sex.’
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape. The trial continues.
A respected violin tutor ‘raped’ a teenage girl while working at the city’s ‘world-renowned’ Chetham’s School of Music, a court has been told.
Malcolm Layfield is alleged to have gone on to work as head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2001 – despite management learning of the allegation against him.
A Manchester Crown Court sex trial has been told he raped a ‘vulnerable’ Chetham’s pupil in the back of his car on a school trip during the 1980s.
In a video of a March 2013 police interview played to the jury the complainant, now a middle-aged woman, said: “I didn’t want it – I was plied with drink, I was in the middle of nowhere.”
Mr Layfield, 63, of Victoria Pit Marina, Higher Poynton, Cheshire, who is also known as John Layfield, denies rape.
The jury has been told it may be asked to consider whether there was ‘an element of the casting couch involved’ in the case.
The court heard the complainant went on to have consensual sex with the teacher for six weeks.
“There was no affection, there was no romance, nothing. It was just him abusing his power to get sex… nothing apart from stiff drinks in the bar and sordid sex in the back of his car. My self-esteem was at rock bottom – I was Malcolm’s bit on the side,” the woman said.
The woman told police that when she was at at Chetham’s Mr Layfield was ‘very friendly’ and the ‘teacher to be with’.
Describing the alleged rape that led to the ‘affair’, she claimed he ‘targeted’ her on a summer school event organised by him and his wife, confiding in her about an ‘affair’ he was conducting in London.
On the last night of the trip, its alleged, Mr Layfield ‘plied’ the victim with whisky during a party game of ‘sardines’.
“At this point I was staring to get worried”, she said, “but I still thought it’s not going to happen to me.”
He is later alleged to have ordered the pupil into his car, where the alleged attack took place.
The woman said: “He was going to have sex with me and there was not a thing I could do about it… I was in danger. There was no violence but he was using his strength. I suppose I just gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since… he’s a real bully… I hate him.” Proceeding
A violin teacher abused his power and influence to rape a pupil from a world-renowned music school in Manchester, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, former head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and a one-time violin tutor at Chetham’s school of music in Manchester, admits having “inappropriate sexual relationships” with a number of his former students, including the rape complainant, a jury at Manchester crown court was told.
But the 63-year-old denies raping her in the back of his car at a summer camp in the early 1980s, when she was 18 and he was a married father in his early 30s.
Layfield’s alleged victim claims the rape took place the summer she left Chetham’s, where she had been a boarder.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Peter Cadwallader told the jury that the case involved “abuse of power”. Layfield was a “fine teacher with power and influence” who taught “highly gifted” and ambitious students, said the barrister.
“It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly. He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of his former students. [The complainant, who cannot be named,] was one such student,” said Cadwallader, adding: “It will be a matter for you to consider whether there was something of the casting couch involved.”
In a police video interview played to the jury, the complainant described how Layfield groomed her by offering her lifts back from rehearsals. During the journey, he would confide in her about an affair he was having with a woman in London. “He asked me whether he should tell his wife. I was the confidante,” the witness said. “He did this, very calculated, so I was the person he would talk to.”
He would also make inappropriate remarks during their lessons, once commenting that she looked like she had “no clothes on” when she turned up in white dungarees.
Layfield also acted as a “father figure”. But he had a reputation for lavishing inappropriate attention on female pupils, said the woman. Chetham’s, said the complainant, was a place where supervision was “wholly inadequate” and children “ran riot”.
The woman described the evening leading up to the alleged rape at a summer camp in Cornwall where he plied her with whiskey. It was organised by Layfield and his wife at a cottage where they were staying with their young children.
After going to bed, she remembers waking up hearing Layfield saying “let’s get [her] up” and pulling her out of her sleeping bag with the help of two male pupils. She then recalled him driving her “to the middle of nowhere” and forcing himself on her in the back seat of the car. She described trying to pull away from him as he used his strength to rape her, before driving them back to the cottage, where his wife was up and making breakfast for his children.
Later that year, he would have sex with her after drinks at a college bar, usually in the back of his car in an abandoned car park. Once he instigated sex in the front room of his house in Didsbury, south Manchester, while his wife and children were home, she said. He was “disgusting”, the woman said, insisting that while she consented on these later occasions, she never wanted to sleep with him but felt she had to.
“He called it an affair. But it wasn’t an affair. There was no affection, no romance. It was him abusing his power to get sex. That’s what it was,” she said. “He was only interested in his own career and getting on in the music business.”
She said he once threatened to stop her getting freelance work as a musician and said she felt humiliated by being “Malcolm’s bit on the side”.
The court heard the woman first made an official complaint about Layfield in 2001, when he was promoted to head of strings at the RNCM. She described writing a letter to the then principal, Edward Gregson, telling him what Layfield had done to her and others and urging him to reconsider the appointment.
Layfield got the job and only resigned in February 2013 after Greater Manchester police began investigating him for rape.
The case continues.
BreakingNews.ie, June 1st, 2015
‘Violin teacher ‘used power to rape”
A violin teacher in the UK improperly used his “power and influence” to rape an 18-year-old female student, a jury has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about “abuse of power” in the early 1980s by the defendant who worked at the “world renowned” Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester.
Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said: “He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent.
“It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.
“He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of female students.
“The complainant in this case was one such student.”
He told the jury that the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.
Mr Cadwallader said: “For the ambitious student, her violin teacher was critical.
“Not only for her progress at those two institutions, Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, but also for his influence on her future music career.
“We suggest that he used that power and influence in an improper and inappropriate way, in essence, to obtain sex.”
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape.
The jury was played a video of the police interview with the complainant.
She said she had studied at Chetham’s from the age of 14 where supervision was “woefully inadequate” and students were allowed to “run riot”.
She told a detective: “Malcolm went out of his way to cultivate a relationship where he was the mentor, the father figure.
“He always wanted to know what everyone was doing … inappropriate conversations. He wanted to be extra-friendly.”
She said he bought alcohol in the pub for under-age students on a previous school trip.
During the Cornwall trip, she said, he confided in her that he was cheating on his wife with a woman in London.
Recalling the alleged rape, she said: “There was no violence but he was using his strength.
“I suppose I just gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since. In some ways I was protecting him … how could he do that to someone? He clearly had no respect for women. He clearly targets women. I was a target.
“He knew he was going to do this. I couldn’t deal with it.”
She said she went on to have sex with him in the back of his car in disused areas after lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
The complainant said Layfield initiated sex with her on one occasion at his former home in Didsbury while his wife and children were in the house.
She said: “I was just going along with it. I didn’t want it. I didn’t fancy him.
“I was just not equipped to deal with it.
“He called them affairs. It was not an affair for me. There was no romance. It was just him abusing his power to get sex.”
She said he later told her that if she changed teachers at the college he would take all her freelance work away from her.
“Again, I was under his influence,” she said. “I really thought he was going to do that.
“He was a real bully as well. He was only interested in his own career and getting on in the music business.”
She said she would cry during lessons with him before the relationship eventually fizzled out.
The complainant said her memories of the alleged incident were later “triggered” when Layfield was appointed head of strings at the college, which she found “absolutely disgraceful”.
She said she rang Professor Edward Gregson, then principal of the RNCM, but said she got the impression that unless she was prepared to “cry rape” and go to court then Layfield would not have the job taken away from him.
The complainant said she felt “fobbed off” and she was not prepared to take it any further legally at that stage.
Asked by the interviewing officer how the alleged rape affected her life, she replied: “I never like being a victim. I am not that sort of person.
“I really hate him. I have spent far too long thinking about it. What I really, really want is closure.”
The trial continues tomorrow when the complainant will give evidence.
BBC News, June 1st, 2015
‘Chetham’s music professor ‘raped student in car’, court hears’
A former professor at a prestigious music school used his “power and influence” in order to rape a female student, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, denies raping an 18-year-old from Chetham’s School of Music in the early 1980s.
Manchester Crown Court heard the attack occurred during a trip to Cornwall.
Prosecutor David Cadwallader said the alleged victim didn’t complain at the time “because nobody would have believed her back then.”
She said Mr Layfield plied her with drink, took her to a remote spot in his car and raped her.
The court heard the student went on to have a consensual relationship with Mr Layfield.
‘I didn’t fancy him’
But Mr Cadwallader said she only “went along” with it despite her reluctance, because the teacher was “critical” to her success at the school and future career.
“It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly,” the prosecutor said.
“He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of female students.
“The complainant in this case was one such student.”
During a filmed interview shown to the jury, the woman described the encounter alleged to have taken place in Mr Layfield’s car.
“He was going to have sex with me and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
“I gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since.”
Mr Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, also taught at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
In 2001, the woman wrote to RNCM alleging Mr Layfield had been involved in inappropriate relationships with students.
He was later promoted to head of strings, Mr Cadwallader said.
The trial continues.
The Times, June 2nd, 2015
‘Music teacher ‘abused power to rape student, 18”
A violin teacher improperly used his power and influence to rape a female student, a jury has been told. Malcolm Layfield, 63, who worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, allegedly raped the 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Peter Cadwallader, for the prosecution, told Manchester crown court that the teenager had been on a summer course organised by Mr Layfield and his wife, where he had plied her with whisky. “She remembers getting into his car but cannot really remember how she got there. She was very drunk by that time,” Mr Cadwallader said. “She realised he was going to have sex with her, and she felt she could do nothing about it.”
Mr Layfield, of Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape. He has admitted inappropriate relationships with several female students, the court was told. He went on to have a six-week affair with his alleged victim, although Mr Cadwallader said that the first time they had sex it was rape. He added: “We suggest he used that power and influence in an improper and inappropriate way, in essence, to obtain sex.” The trial continues.
The Daily Telegraph, June 2nd, 2015
‘Music school teacher ‘plied student with drink and raped her”
A VIOLIN teacher improperly used his power and influence to rape an 18-yearold female student, a jury has heard. Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about “abuse of power” in the early 1980s by the defendant who worked at the “world renowned” Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in the city.
Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, said: “He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent. It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.”
Mr Cadwallader told the jury the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape. The case continues.
Daily Mail, June 2nd, 2015
James Tozer, ‘Violin Teacher got Pupil, 18, Drunk before Raping Her’
A LEADING violin teacher plied a teenage pupil with whisky during an alcohol-fuelled game of sardines then forced her to have sex with him in the back of his car, a jury heard yesterday.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, abused his power as a tutor at the renowned Chetham’s School of Music to rape the 18-year-old, knowing his ability to influence her career prospects would ensure she did not speak out, it was claimed.
She only came forward two decades later in protest at his appointment as head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, but did not want to go to court.
More than ten years on, however, she changed her mind, and the teacher went on trial yesterday accused of attacking her in the early 1980s.
Layfield admits having inappropriate’ relationships with a number of students, the jury was told, but insists his six-week affair with his accuser was consensual throughout. The promising young violinist had been taught by Layfield at the Manchester music school from her mid-teens, the court heard, leaving Chetham’s when she was 18.
But that summer she and a number of fellow pupils went to a cottage in Cornwall for a summer school organised by Layfield and his wife.
On the final day Layfield prepared a strong, alcoholic punch’, Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court.
He then suggested they played the party game sardines – squeezing into confined spaces around the cottage – the court heard. Alarm bells began ringing when she realised that wherever she tended to end up, the defendant ended up, and at the same time he was plying her with whisky from a bottle that he was carrying,’ Mr Cadwallader said.
Layfield then used her befuddled’ state to persuade her to get into his car, drove her to an isolated spot and attacked her, Mr Cadwallader said.
The woman told police: There was no violence but he was using his strength. I suppose I just gave in and I’ve hated myself for that ever since.’
Mr Cadwallader said Layfield knew perfectly well’ that she was not consenting to sex, but went ahead anyway.
The following term, he said, she began studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, also in Manchester, and still taught by Layfield.
She reluctantly’ had sex with him consensually on a number of occasions, said Mr Cadwallader, adding: He had power over her progress at the college and influence over her future career within the music world.’
Layfield, of Manchester, denies one count of rape.
The trial continues.
The violinist, who denies the charge, was formerly head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music and taught at Chetham’s
The trial of former Royal Northern College of Music head of strings Malcolm Layfield has begun at Manchester crown court. The musician is accused of raping an 18-year-old pupil when he was a violin teacher at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, UK.
Layfield has admitted having ‘inappropriate sexual relationships’ with several former students, including his accuser, but denies the rape – said to have happened in the back of his car at a camp in Cornwall, the summer after she left the school in the early 1980s.
The alleged victim claims Layfield, then married and in his 30s, groomed her during lifts from rehearsals. Following the initial incident, the two had a consensual relationship, but according to prosecutor David Cadwallader the accuser ‘went along’ with the affair as Layfield was ‘critical’ to the success of her career, writes the BBC.
The alleged victim wrote to the RNCM in 2001 when Layfield was promoted to head of strings urging them to reconsider his appointment. Layfield resigned from that role in 2013 after police began investigating allegations made against him as part of Operation Kiso.
The inquiry into sex abuse at Chetham’s and the RNCM began in February 2013, following the conviction of former Chetham’s head of music Michael Brewer, who was jailed for six years and stripped of his OBE. His victim was violinist Frances Andrade, who killed herself after giving evidence at his trial.
Day 2: Tuesday June 1st
Tweets from @helenpidd
The woman who accuses Chetham’s/Royal Northern teacher Malcolm Layfield of raping her when she was 18 is about to give evidence in court.
She is to give evidence behind a curtain, screened from Malcolm Layfield but visible to judge and jury.
Layfield’s QC, Ben Myers, suggests to the complainant that Layfield “took advantage” of students who wanted to impress him…
Myers says Layfield admits “inappropriate” relationships with pupils before & after that with the rape complainant. She uses term “abusive”.
Layfield’s QC accuses the complainant of “cultivating” Layfield’s interest in her, knowing he had “form” for sleeping with his students.
She denies it, saying she wasn’t dressing deliberately provocatively in black dress and fishnets the night of the alleged rape.
Complainant: “it doesn’t matter what young people sing or what they wear. It’s not an invitation to rape.” (She sang The Masochism Tango).
Malcolm Layfield’s barrister has just produced a jewellery box containing cuff links he says the complainant bought Layfield as a thank you
The complainant says she can’t remember buying the gift.
Layfield’s barrister asks the complainant if she gave me an interview, which was published in the guardian. She says she did.
A school friend of the woman who accuses Malcolm Layfield of rape says it was “the norm” for teachers to have sex with students at Chetham’s
The friend says she met Layfield at a party some years after the alleged rape and he said he still masturbated thinking of the complainant.
His wife was also at the party.
Another friend of the complainant says there was a “very strong culture” of underage drinking alcohol at Chetham’s. Layfield “encouraged” it
The friend (a man) says Layfield would tell him about having sex with other pupils and in lessons would talk about students’ big breasts.
Tweets from @clarefallon, BBC Reporter in the North:
Defence cross examine alleged victim at trial of violin teacher Malcolm Layfield. he denies raping her. He worked at Chets & RNCM
Witness under cross examination: “It doesn’t matter what young people sing or chose to wear. it’s not an invitation to rape”
She’d been asked by the defence about a cabaret performance she gave on last night of a school summer camp – when she says she was raped
She was 18 at time. Defence asking her about a performance she – and other students – gave of “the masachism tango”
Defence points out that she was wearing fishnets and a black dress. She tells court “young people can wear whatever they like”
witness says she was plied with alcohol before alleged rape “he had a bottle of whisky… he was thrusting it in our faces”
She has told court Mr Layfield would “pressure” students to go to his summer camps. “there was pressure on you to go… that’s how i saw it”
Malcolm Layfield denies rape. But says he did have inappropriate relationships with students.
asked about why she went on to have consensual sex with her tutor: “i didn’t even fancy him. i found him disgusting.”
asked why she didn’t ask to switch tutors: “u have to say why & then u’ve got a rape to deal with. I just couldn’t deal with the situation”
Defence has shown the jury cufflinks – claiming alleged victim gave them to Mr Layfield. She says it’s possible but she doesn’t remember.
witness now being re-examed by prosecution. she’s asked why she got in the car (before she says she was raped by Malcolm Layfield)
witness: “i was a bit frightened of him.
he had a side to him that could turn.”
asked about why she didn’t complain at the time – and what impact she thought complaining would have on future career…..
“I thought they wouldn’t believe me. I’d given in. You’ve got to remember that I didn’t realise I’d been raped..
I thought it was my fault.”
Another former pupil giving evidence. He also went to summer camp in Cornwall. Says Mr Layfield took them on ‘booze runs’ to buy alcohol.
witness asked about recollection of alleged victim ending up in the car with Malcolm Layfield on the night she says she was raped….
witness says: ‘malcolm would manipulate situations. we were very young and he wasn’t. he was probably organising us without us realising it’
Tweets from @amywelchitv , Correspondent for ITV Granada.
Jury in trial of music teacher Malcolm Layfield have heard evidence from alleged rape victim. She claims she was 18 when he abused her.
Defence in trial of Malcolm Layfield tells court the alleged rape victim ‘could read the signals and was ready to cultivate his interest.’
Allegedly rape victim in Layfield trial says: ‘it doesn’t matter what young people say or choose to wear…it’s not an invitation to rape.’
Alleged rape victim in trial of Malcolm Layfield tells court ‘I was frightened of him and his influence. I felt like it was my fault.’
Defence lawyer for Malcolm Layfield suggests pupil acted provocatively and slept with Chetham’s teacher willingly
A woman who has accused her violin teacher of raping her when she was 18 wanted to have sex with him, knowing he had form for starting relationships with his pupils, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, former head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, denies raping the woman, whom he taught for several years at Chetham’s school of music in Manchester.
He insists he had consensual sex with her in the back of his car at a summer school he organised with his wife in Cornwall in the 1980s. He was a father in his 30s at the time.
Cross-examining the complainant at Manchester crown court on Tuesday, Layfield’s barrister suggested she cultivated a sexual relationship with him by dressing and acting provocatively and not objecting when he confided in her about an extramarital affair he was having with one of her contemporaries.
Ben Myers QC, defending, put it to her that on the night of the alleged rape she was dressed provocatively and sang a suggestive song during an end-of-course show.
She replied angrily: “It doesn’t matter what young people sing or choose to wear. It’s not an invitation to rape.” She denied Myers’ assertion that she must have known Layfield was sexually attracted to her when he started to offer her lifts and treat her as his confidante.
Myers said: “By this time this was a man who had a reputation for getting involved with female students.”
He suggested the woman slept with Layfield willingly at the summer camp and then again in Manchester during a six-week period, including once in her own bed, and continued to be taught by him for four years at college.
He said she had rewritten history only when she graduated and moved to a different city, but was still known in the music scene as “one of Malcolm’s bits-on-the-side”.
During the cross-examination, Myers produced a jewellery box containing cufflinks that Layfield claims the woman bought him as a thank-you present when he finished teaching her at college. The complainant said she could not remember buying them.
She acknowledged having given an interview to the Guardian in 2013 about the abuse she said Layfield subjected her to.
The case continues.
ITV News, June 2nd, 2015
‘Song was ‘not an invitation to rape’, Layfield jury told’
A woman who claims she was raped by her teacher at a Manchester music school has given evidence to his trial.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to rape the then 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence before the jury today, his accuser denied she willingly had sex in the vehicle with the defendant, who taught her at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Earlier on the night of the alleged rape she agreed she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the excursion .
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Layfield, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen “a raunchy song” such as Hey Big Spender.
Mr Meyers read to the jury at Manchester Crown Court the opening lyrics of the Masochism Song by Tom Lehrer, which, he put to her, were “quite suggestive”.
The song goes: “I ache for the touch of your lips dear, But much more for the touch of your whips dear, You can raise welts like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.” It continues: “At your command, before you here I stand, My heart is in my hand.
“It’s here that I must be, My heart entreats, just hear those savage beats, And go put on your cleats, And come and trample me.”
The complainant said to the barrister: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape.
BBC News, June 2nd, 2015
‘Chetham music teacher ‘raped student who sang suggestive song”
A student wearing fishnet stockings sang a “suggestive song” in front of her violin teacher who raped her while on a school trip, a court heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, denies raping an 18-year-old from Chetham’s School of Music in the early 1980s.
She denied she willingly had sex in his car during a trip to Cornwall at Manchester Crown Court.
On the night of the alleged rape, she agreed she performed a song as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the trip.
‘Raunchy song’
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Mr Layfield, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen “a raunchy song” such as Hey Big Spender.
Mr Meyers read to the jury the opening lyrics of the song she performed – the Masochism Song by Tom Lehrer – which, he put to her, were “quite suggestive”.
The song goes: “I ache for the touch of your lips dear/But much more for the touch of your whips dear/You can raise welts like nobody else/As we dance to the Masochism Tango.”
The complainant responded: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Mr Myers said it would not be disputed his client pursued a series of relationships with female students and it was accepted by him that this was “inappropriate”.
The victim would have known Mr Layfield had a reputation for getting involved with female students by the time of the trip, the court was told.
Mr Myers said: “You knew perfectly well he was turning his attention towards you and you were prepared to cultivate that?”
‘Extremely influential’
The woman replied: “No.”
The jury heard Mr Layfield provided “strong alcoholic punch” on the final night of the trip.
His alleged victim is said to have escaped his attentions as she got into her sleeping bag upstairs but recalled him telling her to get up.
She next remembered getting into his car “in the middle of the night” and driving to a beach, but could not recall how she got there.
Asked why she didn’t stay in bed, the complainant said: “I wish I had. Again it’s refusing something from someone who is extremely influential.”
She told the court no violence or threats were used to get her in the car but she “did not want anything sexual to happen”.
She did not make a complaint at the time because she convinced herself it was an affair and later went on to have consensual sex with him over a six-week period, it was said.
Mr Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, also taught at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
The trial continues.
Lancashire Evening Post, June 2nd, 2015
‘Song ‘not an invitation to rape”
Wearing fishnet stockings while singing a “suggestive song” in front of her violin teacher, who is from Manchester, was not “an invitation to rape”, a sex abuse complainant has told a jury.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, is said to have used his “power and influence” to rape the then 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence, his accuser denied she willingly had sex in the vehicle with the defendant, who taught her at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), both in Manchester.
Earlier on the night of the alleged rape she agreed she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the excursion.
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Layfield, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen “a raunchy song” such as Hey Big Spender.
Mr Meyers read to the jury at Manchester Crown Court the opening lyrics of the Masochism Song by Tom Lehrer, which, he put to her, were “quite suggestive”.
The song goes: “I ache for the touch of your lips dear, But much more for the touch of your whips dear, You can raise welts like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.” It continues: “At your command, before you here I stand, My heart is in my hand.
“It’s here that I must be, My heart entreats, just hear those savage beats, And go put on your cleats, And come and trample me.”
The complainant said to the barrister: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Layfield denies rape.
Press Association, June 2nd, 2015
Kim Pelling, ‘Song ‘Not an Invitation to Rape”
Wearing fishnet stockings while singing a “suggestive song” in front of her violin teacher was not “an invitation to rape”, a sex abuse complainant has told a jury.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to rape the then 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence today, his accuser denied she willingly had sex in the vehicle with the defendant, who taught her at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), both in Manchester.
Earlier on the night of the alleged rape she agreed she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the excursion .
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Layfield, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen “a raunchy song” such as Hey Big Spender.
Mr Meyers read to the jury at Manchester Crown Court the opening lyrics of the Masochism Song by Tom Lehrer, which, he put to her, were “quite suggestive”.
The song goes: “I ache for the touch of your lips dear, But much more for the touch of your whips dear, You can raise welts like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.” It continues: “At your command, before you here I stand, My heart is in my hand.
“It’s here that I must be, My heart entreats, just hear those savage beats, And go put on your cleats, And come and trample me.”
The complainant said to the barrister: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, accused of using his ‘power and influence’ to rape the then student while a teacher at the renowned music school. He denies the charge
A woman who claims she was raped by her violin teacher as a teenager sang a song for him while wearing fishnet stockings – but insists it was not ‘an invitation to rape’, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, is said to have used his ‘power and influence’ to rape the then student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence, his accuser denied she willingly had sex in the vehicle with the defendant, who taught her at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester.
Earlier on the night of the alleged rape she agreed she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the excursion.
Benjamin Myers QC, representing the music teacher, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen ‘a raunchy song’ such as Hey Big Spender.
But the complainant replied: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Jury members were also told that the woman was referred to as ‘one of Malcolm’s bits on the side’ after leaving Manchester.
The barrister said: “The reality is that as an 18-year-old woman you were content to get into that car, have sex and you are full of regret and anger now for what you chose to do.”
She replied: “No, that is not the case.
Mr Myers told the jury that in 2001 a ‘large number of people’ had complained that Layfield was unsuitable for his newly appointed-post as head of strings at RNCM because of his relationships with female students.
Extensive media coverage followed at the time which was ‘hostile’ to Layfield, with personal attacks on him and his family life, he said.
He said the complaints were brought to the attention of the police at the time but no prosecution followed.
Mr Layfield, who has yet to give evidence in the trial, denies rape.
Proceeding
Woman accusing Malcolm Layfield of abusing her when she was 18 denies defence suggestion that she cultivated sexual relationship with tutor
Dressing and singing provocatively is “not an invitation to rape”, a woman has told a jury, after accusing her violin teacher of abusing her when she was 18.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, the former head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, denies raping the woman, whom he taught for several years at Chetham’s school of music in Manchester.
He insists he had consensual sex with her in the back of his car at a summer school he organised with his wife in Cornwall in the 1980s. He was a father in his 30s at the time.
Cross-examining the complainant at Manchester crown court on Tuesday, Layfield’s barrister suggested she had cultivated a sexual relationship with him by dressing and acting provocatively and not objecting when he confided in her about an extramarital affair he was having with one of her contemporaries.
Ben Myers QC, defending, put it to her that on the night of the alleged rape she wore a provocative outfit and sang a suggestive song during an end-of-course show.
She replied angrily: “It doesn’t matter what young people sing or choose to wear. It’s not an invitation to rape.” She denied Myers’ assertion that she must have known Layfield was sexually attracted to her when he started to offer her lifts and treat her as his confidante.
Myers said: “By this time this was a man who had a reputation for getting involved with female students.” Layfield had “form”, he added.
He suggested the woman had slept with Layfield willingly at the summer camp and then again in Manchester during a six-week period, including once in her own bed, and continued to be taught by him for four years at college.
He said she had rewritten history only when she graduated and moved to a different city, but was still known in the music scene as “one of Malcolm’s bits on the side”.
During the cross-examination, Myers produced a jewellery box containing cufflinks that Layfield claims the woman bought him as a thank-you present when he finished teaching her at college. The complainant said she could not remember buying them.
She acknowledged having given an interview to the Guardian in 2013 about the abuse she said Layfield had subjected her to.
Two of the woman’s schoolfriends also gave evidence on Tuesday. One, who has remained close to the complainant, recalled attending a party at Layfield’s house several years after the alleged rape. She told the jury he said then that he still masturbated at the thought of the complainant.
The woman said that at the time of the rape it was the norm for teachers and students at Chetham’s to have sex.
The other friend, a man, said Layfield would talk openly at Chetham’s about his sexual relations with female students. During lessons he would discuss their relative attractiveness and who had big breasts, he told the jury.
The case continues.
SINGING a “suggestive song” in front of a violin teacher while wearing fishnet stockings was not “an invitation to rape”, a court heard.
Music teacher Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to rape a teenage student in the back of his car during a school trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Layfield, from Castlefield, Manchester, taught his alleged victim – then 18 – at the city’s Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. He denies the rape charge.
But, giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court, his accuser rejected claims she willingly had sex with him in the vehicle.
A jury heard how earlier on the night of the alleged attack she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the trip.
It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape
Alleged rape victim
Benjamin Myers QC, representing Layfield, asked the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?”
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Layfield said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen “a raunchy song” such as Hey Big Spender.
Mr Meyers read out the opening lyrics of the Masochism Song by Tom Lehrer, which, he put to her, were “quite suggestive”.
The song includes the lines: “I ache for the touch of your lips dear, But much more for the touch of your whips dear, You can raise welts like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.”
It continues: “At your command, before you here I stand, My heart is in my hand.”
The woman told the barrister: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Mr Myers said it would not be disputed that his client pursued “inappropriate” relationships with female students.
The witness, giving evidence from behind a curtain, replied: “Abuse, abusive relationships.”
Mr Myers said that by the time of the Cornwall trip she would have known Layfield’s reputation and that he was developing an interest in her.
He said: “You knew perfectly well he was turning his attention towards you and you were prepared to cultivate that?”
The woman replied: “No.”
The jury has heard that Layfield provided “strong alcoholic punch” on the final night of the course staged by himself and his wife.
He is alleged to have persuaded the woman out of bed and driven her to a beach
But Mr Myers said the fact she kept on her cabaret outfit meant she did not intend to stay in bed.
He said: “Looking back, you feel you were taken advantage of?”
The woman said: “I did not want anything sexual to happen.”
She said she did not complain at the time because she convinced herself it was an affair and later went on to have consensual sex with him over a six-week period.
She said: “I twisted it in my mind to protect him, his wife. I ended up fooling myself.
She said her hatred for Layfield built up at the RNCM but she did not ask for another tutor because he had threatened to take work away from her.
The case continues.
The Daily Telegraph, June 2nd, 2015
‘Music school teacher ‘plied student with drink and raped her”
A VIOLIN teacher improperly used his power and influence to rape an 18-year-old female student, a jury has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about “abuse of power” in the early 1980s by the defendant who worked at the “world renowned” Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in the city.
Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, said: “He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent. It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.” Mr Cadwallader told the jury the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape. The case continues.
Daily Mail, June 2nd, 2015
James Tozer, ‘Violin Teacher got Pupil, 18, Drunk before Raping Her’
A LEADING violin teacher plied a teenage pupil with whisky during an alcohol-fuelled game of sardines then forced her to have sex with him in the back of his car, a jury heard yesterday.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, abused his power as a tutor at the renowned Chetham’s School of Music to rape the 18-year-old, knowing his ability to influence her career prospects would ensure she did not speak out, it was claimed.
She only came forward two decades later in protest at his appointment as head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, but did not want to go to court.
More than ten years on, however, she changed her mind, and the teacher went on trial yesterday accused of attacking her in the early 1980s.
Layfield admits having inappropriate’ relationships with a number of students, the jury was told, but insists his six-week affair with his accuser was consensual throughout. The promising young violinist had been taught by Layfield at the Manchester music school from her mid-teens, the court heard, leaving Chetham’s when she was 18.
But that summer she and a number of fellow pupils went to a cottage in Cornwall for a summer school organised by Layfield and his wife.
On the final day Layfield prepared a strong, alcoholic punch’, Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court.
He then suggested they played the party game sardines – squeezing into confined spaces around the cottage – the court heard. Alarm bells began ringing when she realised that wherever she tended to end up, the defendant ended up, and at the same time he was plying her with whisky from a bottle that he was carrying,’ Mr Cadwallader said.
Layfield then used her befuddled’ state to persuade her to get into his car, drove her to an isolated spot and attacked her, Mr Cadwallader said.
The woman told police: There was no violence but he was using his strength. I suppose I just gave in and I’ve hated myself for that ever since.’
Mr Cadwallader said Layfield knew perfectly well’ that she was not consenting to sex, but went ahead anyway.
The following term, he said, she began studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, also in Manchester, and still taught by Layfield.
She reluctantly’ had sex with him consensually on a number of occasions, said Mr Cadwallader, adding: He had power over her progress at the college and influence over her future career within the music world.’
Layfield, of Manchester, denies one count of rape.
The trial continues.
Day 3: Wednesday June 3rd, 2015
Tweets from @helenpidd
Martin Roscoe, former head of keyboards at the Royal Northern College of Music, has just given prosecution evidence re Malcolm Layfield.
Roscoe told the jury how in 2001 he met the woman who accuses Layfield of rape, and she told him about what happened.
Malcolm Layfield is giving evidence. He says he split up from his wife in Feb 2013 when press articles surfaced about his sexual behaviour.
Layfield says he “fancied” the woman who accuses him of raping her when she was 18; says he felt she was flirting with him beforehand.
Layfield: “I still feel incredibly bad about it. I’m remorseful and regretful about what happened in these relationships…
… “The thought that this might have affected people’s lives is one that I will always carry.” Says he’s tried to “make amends” since.
Layfield says the youngest student he had a “relationship” with in the 1980s was 17. “All of the others were over 18.”
Tweets from @mrdaveguest
Music teacher accused of raping student says he had sex with her consent with her consent.
Malcolm Layfield, former head of strings at RNCM denies raping her in the early 80s when she was 18.
In statement to police Mr Layfield said he and the student had sexual relationship for several months and remained friends when it ended.
Mr Layfield says the student he’s accused of raping gave him cuff links as a present when she graduated from RNCM.
Malcolm Layfield tells court he had sexual relationships with a number of students.
Mr Layfield admits they were inappropriate relationships and he feels remorseful but says all were with overage students.
Layfield: “I look back and feel terrible about it.”
Malcolm Layfield tells court student he’s accused of raping willingly had sex in his car. “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong”
Former music teacher Malcolm Layfield tells court about affairs with students in the 1980s and says: “I am remorseful” but he denies rape.
BBC News, June 3rd, 2015
Dave Guest, ‘Chetham’s teacher accused of rape ‘says sex was consensual”
A music teacher accused of raping one of his students has admitted in court they had sex but said it was always consensual.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, raped the 18-year-old pupil at Manchester’s Chetham’s School of Music in the early 1980s, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Mr Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, denies a charge of rape.
He told the court he had affairs with a number of students in the 1980s but saw nothing wrong with it at the time.
But, he told the jury that looking back he now feels “terrible about it”.
‘Got her drunk’
“I am remorseful and regretful about what happened with these relationships,” he said.
It is alleged Mr Layfield raped his pupil in his car after getting her drunk during a music summer school, in the weeks after she left Chetham’s.
The defendant agreed they had had sex but insisted it was with her full consent, the court heard.
They had gone on to have a sexual relationship, which lasted for several weeks after she started studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he was her tutor.
The jury heard she bought him a set of antique cufflinks as a thankyou present when she graduated from the college.
The trial continues.
A violin teacher has told a jury he was “regretful” about a string of sexual relationships with female students in his care but insisted he was not a rapist.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to sexually assault an 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a residential music course in Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Manchester Crown Court has heard that Layfield pursued a number of relationships with students, the youngest being 17, throughout the decade.
Giving evidence in his defence, Layfield said he did not rape one of them who he taught at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), both in Manchester.
He claims the sex in his car on the Cornish trip was consensual.
Layfield told his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, that the relationships were “highly inappropriate”.
Asked why, he replied: “Because the student/teacher relationship should not cross that area, and looking back I feel remorseful and very regretful about them. They should not have happened.”
Mr Myers asked: “How long did these relationships last?”
The defendant said: “Well I had a number and they lasted over different lengths of time.
“I was not brazen about them. I suppose I didn’t try to actively hide they were happening.”
He went on: “I feel still incredibly bad about it, I am remorseful and regretful about what happened. The thought that this may have affected people’s lives is one I will always carry.”
Layfield added he had since sought to “make amends” by helping in any way he could.
He later agreed with prosecutor Peter Cadwallader that his behaviour towards students in the 1980s was “shameful”.
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies one count of rape.
Press Association, June 3rd, 2015
Kim Pilling, ‘Teacher ‘regrets’ sex with students’
A violin teacher from Manchester has told a jury he was “regretful” about a string of sexual relationships with female students in his care but insisted he was not a rapist.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to sexually assault an 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a residential music course in Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Manchester Crown Court has heard that Layfield pursued a number of relationships with students, the youngest being 17, throughout the decade
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, denies one count of rape.
Giving evidence in his defence, Layfield said he did not rape one of them who he taught at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), both in Manchester.
He claims the sex in his car on the Cornish trip was consensual.
Layfield told his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, that the relationships were “highly inappropriate”.
Asked why, he replied: “Because the student/teacher relationship should not cross that area, and looking back I feel remorseful and very regretful about them. They should not have happened.”
Mr Myers asked: “How long did these relationships last?”
The defendant said: “Well I had a number and they lasted over different lengths of time.
“I was not brazen about them. I suppose I didn’t try to actively hide they were happening.”
He went on: “I feel still incredibly bad about it, I am remorseful and regretful about what happened. The thought that this may have affected people’s lives is one I will always carry.”
Layfield added he had since sought to “make amends” by helping in any way he could.
He later agreed with prosecutor Peter Cadwallader that his behaviour towards students in the 1980s was “shameful”.
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies one count of rape.
It is said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant says she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks as she continued her studies at the RNCM.
She alleges she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors.
Layfield, a former principal lead violin of the Manchester Camerata who also formed his own chamber ensemble, told the jury that he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
On the night of the alleged rape, he said the complainant performed a song in an end-of-course cabaret which he found “suggestive” and had a “flirtatious element to it”.
He told the court: “I did think she was giving off vibes and there was a spark between us.”
The complainant went to bed but he asked a male student to get her up and she came down “perfectly willingly”, he said.
He asked her if she wanted to go for a drive and she agreed, said the defendant.
His barrister asked: “Any idea where this was leading to?”
Layfield replied: “No, not to sex. But I did fancy her and I liked the idea of being in a car with her on our own.
“We sat and talked and then I said to her do you want to get in the back of the car and she said ‘OK, I will’.”
Mr Myers asked: “Did you feel you were doing anything wrong?”
The defendant said: “I was honestly not thinking I was doing anything wrong at the time.
“We started kissing and one thing led to another and we ended up having sex.”
Mr Myers said: “After the sex, what happened?”
He replied: “We sat in the car for a while. We may have dozed off, we stayed the whole evening.
“At one point we got out of the car and watched the sunset come up.”
He said their relationship eventually “petered out” but ended amicably and he said she even presented him with a set of antique gold cufflinks when she left the RNCM.
In cross-examination, Mr Cadwallader asked the defendant: “In relation to the other students you had sexual relationships with, do you think you were doing anything wrong with them back in the 1980s?”
Layfield said: “I acted improperly and I was aware it was improper to act in that way.”
The prosecutor said: “So you knew it was wrong?”
Layfield replied: “Yes. My conduct was disgraceful at that time.
“I thought at the time it was not good but I actually went ahead and did it anyway.”
He agreed he was an “excellent and popular” teacher who was teaching “ambitious and precocious” students, and he was responsible for their safety and welfare.
Mr Cadwallader asked him: “Do you agree that you liked to be the centre of attention?”
Layfield said: “I would not describe it like that but perhaps other people would.”
The prosecutor said: “Did you like to control your students?”
“No, I do not accept that all,” Layfield said.
He denied that sex was his sole interest in the complainant.
He said: “I was quite fond of her so I refuse to debase it to that.”
Layfield also denied openly talking about the physical attributes of female pupils “behind their back” while at the college.
Mr Cadwallader said: “That was your attitude to women. Complete lack of respect.”
The defendant said: “No.”
The prosecutor said: “You saw them as sexual opportunities, you agree with that?”
Layfield said: “No. That is not how these relationships happened.”
Mr Cadwallader said: “Whenever these opportunities arose you took advantage.”
Layfield said: “They were relationships that developed with students, inappropriately.”
The prosecutor continued: “On this night in Cornwall, you crossed the line from taking advantage into rape.”
The defendant replied: “No.”
Mr Cadwallader said: “You were totally indifferent about the wishes of (the complainant), is that correct?”
Layfield said: “That is not correct.”
The prosecutor said: “You could not care less whether she was agreeing or not.”
Layfield said: “I do not accept that at all.”
Mr Cadwallader said: “She just gave in.”
Layfield said: “It was not a question of her giving in. It was a mutual thing that was happening.”
Mr Cadwallader said: “I suggest you could not care less about her feelings. You got her in the car and you used her for sex. If she agreed, good. If not, so what?
Layfield, who no longer works for Chetham’s or the RCNM, denied that was the case.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Manchester Evening News, June 3rd, 2015
Kim Pilling, ‘Cabaret Show ‘was not an invitation to rape’; Alleged victim quizzed about song performance at trial of Chetham’s and RNCM music teacher’
A woman who claims she was raped by her violin teacher as a teenager sang a song for him while wearing fishnet stockings – but insists it was not ‘an invitation to rape’, a court has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, is said to have used his ‘power and influence’ to rape the then student in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall in the early 1980s, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Giving evidence, his accuser denied she willingly had sex in the vehicle with the defendant, who taught her at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester. Earlier on the night of the alleged rape, she agreed she performed a song called The Masochism Tango, wearing a black dress and fishnet stockings, as part of a cabaret to mark the end of the excursion.
Benjamin Myers QC, representing the music teacher, said to the complainant: “You put yourself centre stage in a highly sexualised song directed straight at Mr Layfield?” The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “Mr Lay-field said I want you to do a cabaret and I want you to sing.”
She denied trying to impress him and said she could have chosen ‘a raunchy song’ such as Hey Big Spender. The woman added: “It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.”
Jury members were also told that the woman was referred to as ‘one of Malcolm’s bits on the side’ after leaving Manchester.
Mr Myers said: “The reality is that as an 18-yearold woman you were content to get into that car, have sex and you are full of regret and anger now for what you chose to do.”
She replied: “No, that is not the case.”
Mr Myers told the jury that in 2001 a ‘large number of people’ had complained that Mr Layfield was unsuitable for his newly-appointed post as head of strings at RNCM because of his relationships with female students. Extensive media coverage followed at the time which was ‘hostile’ to Mr Layfield, with personal attacks on him and his family life, he said. He said the complaints were brought to the attention of the police at the time but no prosecution followed. Mr Layfield, who has yet to give evidence in the trial, denies rape.
Proceeding »
ITV News, June 3rd, 2015
‘Violin teacher got girl drunk on ‘strong’ punch before rape – court told’
It is said violin teacher Malcolm Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant says she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks as she continued her studies at the RNCM.
She alleges she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors.
Layfield, a former principal lead violin of the Manchester Camerata who also formed his own chamber ensemble, told the jury that he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
‘Teacher didn’t think he was ‘doing anything wrong’ by having sex with teenage pupil’
On the night of the alleged rape, Layfield said the complainant performed a song in an end-of-course cabaret which he found “suggestive” and had a “flirtatious element to it”.
He told the court: “I did think she was giving off vibes and there was a spark between us.”
The complainant went to bed but he asked a male student to get her up and she came down “perfectly willingly”, he said.
He asked her if she wanted to go for a drive and she agreed, said the defendant.
His barrister asked: “Any idea where this was leading to?”
Layfield replied: “No, not to sex. But I did fancy her and I liked the idea of being in a car with her on our own.
“We sat and talked and then I said to her do you want to get in the back of the car and she said ‘OK, I will’.”
Mr Myers asked: “Did you feel you were doing anything wrong?”
The defendant said: “I was honestly not thinking I was doing anything wrong at the time.
“We started kissing and one thing led to another and we ended up having sex.”
Mr Myers said: “After the sex, what happened?”
He replied: “We sat in the car for a while. We may have dozed off, we stayed the whole evening.
“At one point we got out of the car and watched the sunset come up.”
He said their relationship eventually “petered out” but ended amicably and he said she even presented him with a set of antique gold cufflinks when she left the RNCM.
Malcolm Layfield says his behaviour towards students in 1980s was ‘shameful’ but insists he did not rape the student after teaching her at Chetham’s school
A violin teacher accused of raping a student from a top music school said he regretted having sex with her and other pupils, saying he now viewed his behaviour as highly inappropriate.
But Malcolm Layfield, former head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, insists he did not rape the student, then 18, after teaching her at Chetham’s school of music in Manchester.
The 63-year-old is said to have used his “power and influence” to sexually assault her in the back of his car during a residential music course in Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Giving evidence in his defence at Manchester crown court on Wednesday, Layfield said the sex on the Cornish trip was consensual.
He told the jury that the complainant had been “giving off vibes” to suggest she found him attractive, talking of “sparks” and “sexual chemistry” between them. He said they had a short but exciting relationship following the Cornish encounter. “I suppose I was flattered, being an older man having someone like that for a lover. But the inappropriateness did not strike me then.”
The complainant had previously told the court she found Layfield “disgusting” and never fancied him, despite having a sexual relationship with him for six weeks after the alleged rape.
She said he abused his power to have sex with her and stopped her getting professional work as a musician when their relationship fizzled out. He denied this claim, saying she did not get more work in a particular ensemble because the other players in the group felt she was “not up to it”.
Layfield also denied her claim to have plied her with whiskey during a game of the game sardines, which she said preceded the alleged rape. By his account, they played sardines on a different night.
The jury has heard that Layfield pursued a number of relationships with students, the youngest being 17, throughout the 1980s. Layfield told his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, that he now viewed the relationships as highly inappropriate.
Asked why, he replied: “Because the student-teacher relationship should not cross that area, and looking back I feel remorseful and very regretful about them. They should not have happened.”
He added: “I feel still incredibly bad about it. I am remorseful and regretful about what happened. The thought that this may have affected people’s lives is one I will always carry and what I have tried to do since then is to make amends as much as I can.”
He later agreed with prosecutor Peter Cadwallader that his behaviour towards students in the 1980s was “shameful”. He also said he regretted lying to his wife, who was up making breakfast for their young children when he returned at around 6.30am after having sex with the complainant in the car at a nearby beach.
The jury heard that the couple divorced last year. They separated in February 2013 after the Guardian published claims about his sexual behaviour with the complainant, Layfield said.
The case continues.
Day 4: Thursday, June 4th, 2015
A violin teacher accused of sexually assaulting a teenager in the South West has told a jury he was “regretful” about a string of sexual relationships with female students in his care but insisted he was not a rapist.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have used his “power and influence” to sexually assault an 18-year-old student in the back of his car during a residential music course in Cornwall in the early 1980s.
Manchester Crown Court has heard that Layfield pursued a number of relationships with students, the youngest being 17, throughout the decade
Giving evidence in his defence, Layfield said he did not rape one of them who he taught at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), both in Manchester.
He claims the sex in his car on the Cornish trip was consensual.
Layfield told his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, that the relationships were “highly inappropriate”.
Asked why, he replied: “Because the student/teacher relationship should not cross that area, and looking back I feel remorseful and very regretful about them. They should not have happened.”
Mr Myers asked: “How long did these relationships last?”
The defendant said: “Well I had a number and they lasted over different lengths of time. I was not brazen about them. I suppose I didn’t try to actively hide they were happening.”
He went on: “I feel still incredibly bad about it, I am remorseful and regretful about what happened. The thought that this may have affected people’s lives is one I will always carry.”
Layfield added he had since sought to “make amends” by helping in any way he could. He later agreed with prosecutor Peter Cadwallader that his behaviour towards students in the 1980s was “shameful”.
Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies one count of rape.
It is said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant says she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks as she continued her studies at the RNCM.
She alleges she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors.
Layfield, a former principal lead violin of the Manchester Camerata who also formed his own chamber ensemble, told the jury that he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
On the night of the alleged rape, he said the complainant performed a song in an end-of-course cabaret which he found “suggestive” and had a “flirtatious element to it”.
He told the court: “I did think she was giving off vibes and there was a spark between us.”
The complainant went to bed but he asked a male student to get her up and she came down “perfectly willingly”, he said. He asked her if she wanted to go for a drive and she agreed, said the defendant.
His barrister asked: “Any idea where this was leading to?”
Layfield replied: “No, not to sex. But I did fancy her and I liked the idea of being in a car with her on our own. We sat and talked and then I said to her do you want to get in the back of the car and she said ‘OK, I will’.”
Mr Myers asked: “Did you feel you were doing anything wrong?”
The defendant said: “I was honestly not thinking I was doing anything wrong at the time. We started kissing and one thing led to another and we ended up having sex.”
Mr Myers said: “After the sex, what happened?”
He replied: “We sat in the car for a while. We may have dozed off, we stayed the whole evening. At one point we got out of the car and watched the sunset come up.”
He said their relationship eventually “petered out” but ended amicably and he said she even presented him with a set of antique gold cufflinks when she left the RNCM.
In cross-examination, Mr Cadwallader asked the defendant: “In relation to the other students you had sexual relationships with, do you think you were doing anything wrong with them back in the 1980s?”
Layfield said: “I acted improperly and I was aware it was improper to act in that way.”
The prosecutor said: “So you knew it was wrong?”
Layfield replied: “Yes. My conduct was disgraceful at that time. I thought at the time it was not good but I actually went ahead and did it anyway.”
The trial continues.
Barrister for Malcolm Layfield, who taught at Chetham’s in Manchester, urges jury to distinguish between morally wrong and criminal behaviour
Having inappropriate sexual relationships with students does not make a teacher a rapist, a jury hearing a case against a violin tutor has heard.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, has admitted behaving “shamefully” by having sex with students from Chetham’s school of music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). But he denies raping one of them in the back of his car on a summer course in Cornwall in the 1980s, when she was 18 and he was a married father-of-two in his 30s.
Ben Myers QC, defending Layfield, told the jury at Manchester crown court that it had been “open season” on his client ever since a campaign in 2001 tried to prevent him becoming head of strings at the RNCM.
The complainant was among a large number of people who wrote to the college to urge them not to appoint Layfield to the prestigious position, the court had heard.
Addressing the jury in his closing speech, Myers suggested the complainant had brought the case out of regret at becoming known as a “bit-on-the-side” for Layfield, who had a reputation for affairs with students in Manchester.
The woman had previously told the court she had a six-week consensual relationship with Layfield after the alleged rape because she felt she “had to”. But she accused him of threatening to sabotage her career as a musician if she did not submit to his wishes – a claim he has firmly denied, saying he had negligible influence on the careers of his pupils.
“We cannot convict a man of rape because a woman has come to bitterly regret her actions when she was 18,” said Myers.
The barrister urged the jury to distinguish between what was morally wrong and what was criminal. “There is a difference between wrong and unlawful, between wrong and rape. It doesn’t follow that one proves the other,” he said, accusing the prosecution of using a “good dollop of prejudice” as “Polyfilla” to mask holes in their case.
In his closing speech, Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, said Layfield had an “unpleasant, even frightening, dark side.”
He said Layfield treated his female students as “little more than sex objects”, recalling how one witness claimed Layfield told her years after the alleged rape that he still masturbated at the thought of the complainant’s nipples. Another former student alleged that Layfield would openly discuss the breast sizes of his female charges.
In his speech, Myers suggested Layfield’s female students perhaps also viewed him as merely a “sex object”.
During the trial Layfield testified that he thought the complainant had flirted with him by performing a risque cabaret song with her classmates on the night of the alleged rape, recalling that she was dressed in fishnet tights and a black dress. This, Cadwallader told the jury, came uncomfortably close to the “old idea that a woman wearing a short skirt is asking for it”.
The truth, said Cadwallader, is that Layfield behaved recklessly by having sex with the woman whether she wanted to or not. Warning the jury that “submission is not consent” he said of Layfield: “In colloquial terms, he couldn’t care less. He was indifferent to her attitude towards it. And that, the crown says, is rape.”
Before the barristers delivered their closing speeches, the defence called their final witnesses.
Louise Jones, who studied violin at Chetham’s and the RNCM with Layfield, described him as a “great inspiration”. She said the Cornwall summer schools were a “real highlight” of her time studying music. Asked whether Layfield had ever behaved inappropriately to her, she said no, and recalled once babysitting for Layfield’s son and staying the night at their house.
Amanda Milne, a former cellist who performed in orchestras and ensembles directed by Layfield at Chetham’s and the RNCM, described him as “generous and an extremely good teacher”.
A character reference from Dr Colin Beeson, former vice principal of the RNCM, was read to the jury. Beeson said Layfield had been one of the most effective department heads at the college and was an “inspirational leader” who helped him when he was going through a divorce.
The judge is due to sum up the case on Monday.
The court did not sit on Friday June 5th.
Day 5: Monday June 8th, 2015
Tweets from @helenpidd
Malcolm Layfield has been found not guilty of rape. More details to follow.
The jury hearing the rape case against Malcolm Layfield only retired to consider their verdict at 12.48 today. Very quick.
Press Association, June 8th, 2015
Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard
Father-of-two Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castleford, Manchester, told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
Following the verdict, Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
Daily Mail, June 8th, 2015
Press Association, ‘Violin teacher cleared of rape’
A violin teacher has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, had denied the Crown’s allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
The defendant admitted he pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s which his trial heard were said to be “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield.
But the former part-time tutor at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) denied he “crossed the line” on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who showed no emotion as the not guilty verdict on one count of rape was returned.
Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard
Father-of-two Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castleford, Manchester, told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
Following the verdict, Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
Layfield was a popular, gifted teacher at both prestigious establishments and an acclaimed violinist himself who performed with the Manchester Camerata orchestra and led his own Goldberg Ensemble.
He told his rape trial that he was “regretful” about the “shameful” consensual relationships he had with female students, with the youngest aged 17.
The complainant was among a number of women who came forward in the wake of the 2013 conviction of Chetham’s former music director Michael Brewer to report historical sexual abuse.
Brewer was jailed for six years after he was found guilty of indecently assaulting ex-pupil Frances Andrade, 48, more than 30 years ago when she was 14 and 15.
Mrs Andrade killed herself at her home in Guildford, Surrey, a week after giving evidence against him.
Two men were sentenced last year as part of the investigation launched by Greater Manchester Police following Brewer’s conviction.
Conductor Nicholas Smith, 66, was jailed for eight months after he admitted sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Chetham’s pupil in the 1970s.
While double bass teacher Duncan McTier was handed a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, after he pleaded guilty to sexual assaults against three former pupils he taught at the RNCM and Purcell School of Music in Harrow.
Before the start of Layfield’s trial, his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, applied for a ban on reporting his client’s identity unless he was convicted of the offence.
Despite publicity of his arrest and his subsquent charging, Layfield argued there was “no public interest” in identifying him in the event of his acquittal.
It was said that the “protracted investigation” had been “painful” for him and his family, and that if cleared he should have the same anonymity as his accuser.
Judge Michael Henshell swiftly dismissed the application and said he was not convinced the general principle of open justice should be departed from.
Later giving evidence, Layfield admitted to a number of “inappropriate” relationships he conducted with female students in the 1980s while he was married.
He had confessed to those affairs previously in 2002, shortly after a flood of complaints came in to the RNCM on his appointment as head of strings.
Layfield quit the college following the publicity surrounding Brewer’s conviction.
He is now divorced and is not presently working, the court heard.
Malcolm Layfield, former violin teacher at Chetham’s School of Music and head of strings at RNCM, has been found not guilty of rape, according to journalist tweets from Manchester Crown Court. Te jury took less than two hours to reach their verdict.
Layfield, now 63, had insisted his sexual relationship with the teenager had been consensual, as it had been in his relations with other students around the same time, in the 1980s.
More here.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, admitted to shameful behaviour with several female students but said sex with 18-year-old in 1980s was consensual
A former violin teacher accused of abusing his power and influence to prey on students has been found not guilty of rape.
Malcolm Layfield, the former head of strings at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), was cleared of raping one of his students from Chetham’s school of music in Manchester in the 1980s when she was 18 and he was a married father in his 30s.
A jury at Manchester crown court cleared the 63-year-old after being told during the trial that, despite having a reputation as an excellent violin teacher, he had an “unpleasant, even frightening, dark side”.
Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, said Layfield had treated his female students as “little more than sex objects”.
Layfield admitted behaving “shamefully” by having sex with a number of students from Chetham’s and the RNCM. But he denied raping one of them in the back of his car on a summer course in Cornwall in the 1980s after allegedly plying her with whiskey.
The sex was consensual, he said, claiming the victim flirted with him by wearing fishnet stockings and a black dress and performing a risque cabaret song with two classmates. She denied any flirtation, saying: “It doesn’t matter what young people sing or choose to wear. It’s not an invitation to rape.”
The investigation into Layfield began in early 2013 after the conviction of one of his contemporaries at Chetham’s, Michael Brewer, the school’s former head of music.
Brewer was found guilty of sexually abusing a 14-year-old pupil. His victim, Frances Andrade, killed herself after giving evidence against him. In a text message to a friend before her death she said she felt she had been “raped all over again” after a bruising encounter in the witness box with Brewer’s barrister.
Speaking after the verdict, Matthew Claughton, Layfield’s solicitor, said after the verdict: “Today’s unanimous not guilty verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield, who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
During Brewer’s trial, Andrade talked of how inappropriate teacher-pupil relationships at Chetham’s were rife, mentioning Layfield as one of the tutors involved.
In 2002 Andrade was one of a large number of musicians – including the complainant in Layfield’s case – who campaigned to stop him being appointed to the prestigious position of head of strings at the RNCM.
Edward Gregson, then principal of the college, replied to Andrade in a letter, saying: “All the occurrences to which our attention has been drawn happened at least eight years ago, and in many cases much longer.
“In our discussions with Mr Layfield he has admitted, and has expressed his regret for, all the occurrences to which our attention had been drawn, and indeed some others of which we were not previously aware, which also date back eight years or more.”
Layfield resigned from the RNCM in February 2013 after the Guardian published a dossier of correspondence documenting the controversy surrounding his 2002 appointment.
He quit, saying his position had become untenable. Later that year he was arrested.
At the start of his trial last Monday, Layfield tried to prevent reporting of the case.
His barrister, Ben Myers QC, asked the judge to impose reporting restrictions preventing the media from naming Layfield as the defendant. Complainants in sex cases are granted automatic anonymity; Myers argued his client deserved the same, saying there was “no public interest” in identifying him in the event of his acquittal.
It was said that the “protracted investigation” had been “painful” for Layfield and his family, and that if cleared he should have the same anonymity as his accuser. Judge Michael Henshell swiftly dismissed the application and said he was not convinced the general principle of open justice should be departed from.
Layfield was the first Manchester music teacher to opt for a jury trial since Brewer’s conviction.
Two other tutors charged as part of Operation Kiso, Greater Manchester police’s investigation into abuse at music schools in the city, pleaded guilty without a trial.
Last November double bassist Duncan McTier was given a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, after admitting to two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault against young women from the RNCM and Purcell school in Hertfordshire in the 1980s and 1990s.
In September the conductor Nicolas Smith was sentenced to eight months in prison after admitting sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Chetham’s pupil in the 1970s.
BBC News, June 8th, 2015
‘Malcolm Layfield: Chetham’s music teacher cleared of rape’
Malcolm Layfield, 63, denied claims he had used his “power and influence” to assault her in the back of his car.
He admitted he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s.
But the former violin teacher at Manchester’s Chetham’s School of Music denied he “crossed the line” during a summer school in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield.
‘Gave in’
Mr Layfield had been accused of driving the woman in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and raping her while she was drunk on an alcoholic punch made by him.
The complainant, who had been taught by Mr Layfield at Chetham’s and Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), said she “gave in” and went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She said she had been under Mr Layfield’s “influence and power” as he threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors.
Mr Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers”. He said she had willingly got into his car and that sex was “mutual”.
Mr Layfield’s solicitor, Matthew Claughton, said the verdict had come as a “huge relief” to his client.
Chethams School of Music
Chetham’s is one of the country’s best-known music schools
Mr Layfield, who performed with the Manchester Camerata orchestra and led his own Goldberg Ensemble, told the trial that he was “regretful” about the “shameful” consensual relationships he had with female students, with the youngest aged 17.
The complainant was among a number of women who came forward to report historical sexual abuse after the 2013 conviction of Chetham’s former music director Michael Brewer.
Brewer was jailed for six years after he was found guilty of indecently assaulting ex-pupil Frances Andrade, 48, more than 30 years ago when she was 14 and 15.
Mrs Andrade killed herself at her home in Guildford, Surrey, a week after giving evidence.
Two men were sentenced last year as part of an investigation launched by Greater Manchester Police following Brewer’s conviction.
Conductor Nicholas Smith, 66, was jailed for eight months after he admitted sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Chetham’s pupil in the 1970s.
Double bass teacher Duncan McTier also pleaded guilty to sexual assaults against three former pupils he taught at the RNCM and Purcell School of Music in Harrow, north-west London.
Before the trial, the judge dismissed an application to ban reporting Mr Layfield’s identity unless he was convicted of the offence.
Mr Layfield, 63, had denied the Crown’s allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
A violin teacher who worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, had denied the allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
The defendant admitted he pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s which his trial heard were said to be “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield.
But the former part-time tutor denied he “crossed the line” on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who showed no emotion as the not guilty verdict on one count of rape was returned.
Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard
Father-of-two Layfield told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
Following the verdict, Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
Express and Star, June 8th, 2015
‘Violin teacher cleared of rape’
A violin teacher has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, had denied the Crown’s allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
The defendant admitted he pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s which his trial heard were said to be “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield.
But the former part-time tutor at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) denied he “crossed the line” on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who showed no emotion as the not guilty verdict on one count of rape was returned.
Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard
Father-of-two Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castleford, Manchester, told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
Following the verdict, Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
Layfield was a popular, gifted teacher at both prestigious establishments and an acclaimed violinist himself who performed with the Manchester Camerata orchestra and led his own Goldberg Ensemble.
He told his rape trial that he was “regretful” about the “shameful” consensual relationships he had with female students, with the youngest aged 17.
The complainant was among a number of women who came forward in the wake of the 2013 conviction of Chetham’s former music director Michael Brewer to report historical sexual abuse.
Brewer was jailed for six years after he was found guilty of indecently assaulting ex-pupil Frances Andrade, 48, more than 30 years ago when she was 14 and 15.
Mrs Andrade killed herself at her home in Guildford, Surrey, a week after giving evidence against him.
Two men were sentenced last year as part of the investigation launched by Greater Manchester Police following Brewer’s conviction.
Conductor Nicholas Smith, 66, was jailed for eight months after he admitted sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Chetham’s pupil in the 1970s.
While double bass teacher Duncan McTier was handed a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, after he pleaded guilty to sexual assaults against three former pupils he taught at the RNCM and Purcell School of Music in Harrow.
Before the start of Layfield’s trial, his barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, applied for a ban on reporting his client’s identity unless he was convicted of the offence.
Despite publicity of his arrest and his subsquent charging, Layfield argued there was “no public interest” in identifying him in the event of his acquittal.
It was said that the “protracted investigation” had been “painful” for him and his family, and that if cleared he should have the same anonymity as his accuser.
Judge Michael Henshell swiftly dismissed the application and said he was not convinced the general principle of open justice should be departed from.
Later giving evidence, Layfield admitted to a number of “inappropriate” relationships he conducted with female students in the 1980s while he was married.
He had confessed to those affairs previously in 2002, shortly after a flood of complaints came in to the RNCM on his appointment as head of strings.
Layfield quit the college following the publicity surrounding Brewer’s conviction.
He is now divorced and is not presently working, the court heard.
A former teacher at one of the UK’s most prominent music schools has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old pupil in the 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, denied using his “power and influence” to sexually assault the woman after allegedly getting her drunk during a music summer school in Cornwall.
The complainant said she “gave in” and then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks out of fear he would take work opportunities away from her.
The former violin teacher at Chetham’s School of Music told Manchester Crown Court sex had been consensual with her and he was not in the position to “destroy people’s careers”. He also admitted to a number of other consensual sexual relationships with students in the 1980s, which was reportedly common knowledge at the time within musical circles in the area.
A jury took less than 90 minutes to have him acquitted of the offence.
Malcolm Layfield, formerly of Higher Poynton, was acquitted during a hearing at Manchester Crown Court.
A violin teacher has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, formerly of Higher Poynton and who worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, denied the allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
The defendant admitted he pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s which his trial heard were said to be “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield.
But the former part-time tutor denied he “crossed the line” on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who showed no emotion as the not guilty verdict on one count of rape was returned.
Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard
Father-of-two Layfield told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
Following the verdict, Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
Classical Music, June 8th, 2015
Katy Wright, ‘Former Chetham’s teacher found not guilty of rape’
Former violin teacher Malcolm Layfield, 63, has been found not guilty of raping a former pupil.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who had been accused of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
He admitted he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students througout the 1980s, but denied that he had ‘crossed the line’ during a summer school in Cornwall.
Layfield had been accused of driving the woman to an isolated spot in the middle of the night and raping her while she was drunk. The complainant said she ‘gave in’ and went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
The former violin teacher previously worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, refuted the Crown’s allegation that he used his ‘power and influence’ to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
Layfield’s solicitor, Matthew Claughton, said the verdict had some as a ‘huge relief’ to his client.
Sky News, June 8th, 2015
‘Teacher Cleared Of Raping Student In Car’
The former part-time tutor admitted a number of “inappropriate” consensual sexual relationships with students in the 1980s.
A violin teacher has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the back of his car in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, showed no emotion as he was acquitted of one count of rape but his son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery when the verdict was read out.
The former part-time tutor at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) admitted a number of “inappropriate” consensual sexual relationships with students in the 1980s while he was married.
The relationships were said to be “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield, his trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.
However, he denied he used his “power and influence” and “crossed the line” on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
It was said Layfield drove his victim – allegedly drunk on “strong alcoholic punch” made by the defendant – in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM, claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power” as Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, the court was told.
Layfield said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was “a mutual thing that happened”.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it later “fizzled out”.
The father-of-two, of Castle Quay, Castleford, Manchester, told the jury he was not in a position to “destroy people’s careers” and neither did he encourage students to get drunk.
Layfield was a popular, gifted teacher at both prestigious establishments and an acclaimed violinist himself who performed with the Manchester Camerata orchestra and led his own Goldberg Ensemble, the court heard.
He told his rape trial he was “regretful” about the “shameful” consensual relationships he had with female students, with the youngest aged 17.
Layfield is now divorced and is not presently working, the court heard.
The Times, June 9th, 2015
Fiona Hamilton, ‘Violin teacher cleared of raping pupil’
A former violin teacher at the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester was cleared yesterday of raping an 18-year-old student.
Malcolm Layfield, who also worked at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), was accused of using his “power and influence” to attack the teenager in the early 1980s.
Mr Layfield, 63, admitted that he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the decade. His trial was told that these were “common knowledge” in classical music circles. He denied raping one of the students during a summer music school he ran in Cornwall.
Mr Layfield, of Castlefield, Manchester, was accused of plying the teenager with a “strong alcoholic punch” before driving her to an isolated spot to have sex in the middle of the night. He said that they had consensual sex. The complainant, whom he taught at Chetham’s and the RNCM, claimed that she “gave in” and then had consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged that she was under his “influence and power” because Mr Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors.
A jury at Manchester crown court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield.
Manchester Evening News, June 9th, 2015
Chris Osuh, ‘Violin teacher cleared of raping student, 18, in the back of his car; Chetham’s and RNCM tutor told court that sex with student was consensual.’
AVIOLIN teacher who worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s. Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, had denied using his ‘power and influence’ to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
Mr Layfield admitted that he pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s.
His trial heard they were said to be ‘common knowledge’ in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield. But the former part-time tutor denied he ‘crossed the line’ on one occasion during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield, who showed no emotion as the not guilty verdict on one count of rape was returned.
Mr Layfield’s son and daughter burst into tears in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
It was said Mr Layfield drove his alleged victim in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her ‘come what may’.
It was claimed that the complainant was drunk on ‘strong alcoholic punch’ made by Mr Layfield at the time.
The complainant, who Mr Layfield taught at Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, claimed she ‘gave in’ at the time – but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his ‘influence and power’ as Mr Layfield threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Father-of-two Mr Lay-field told the jury he was not in a position to ‘destroy people’s careers’.
Neither did he encourage students to get drunk, the court was told.
He said she willingly got into his car and that sex followed between the pair which was ‘a mutual thing that happened’.
The pair went on to have a sexual relationship, he said, before it ‘fizzled out’.
Following the verdict, Mr Layfield’s solicitor Matthew Claughton, from Olliers Solicitors, said: “Today’s unanimous verdict comes as a huge relief to Malcolm Layfield who would like to thank friends, family and his legal team and all those who have supported him over the last two years.”
‘Today’s verdict comes as a huge relief ‘
The Telegraph, June 9th, 2015
‘Chetham’s violin teacher cleared of raping student’
A VIOLIN teacher who worked at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old student in the early 1980s.
Malcolm Layfield, 63, of Manchester, denied the allegation that he used his “power and influence” to commit the offence against the teenage girl in the back of his car.
Mr Layfield admitted he had a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s, which his trial heard were “common knowledge” in classical musical circles in Manchester and further afield.
But the former part-time tutor denied he “crossed the line” during a summer music school he staged in Cornwall. A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield. It had been alleged in court that Mr Layfield drove the girl – who was said to have been drunk on strong punch made by the defendant – at night to an isolated spot and was determined to have sex with her “come what may”.
The complainant, who had been his pupil at Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester, claimed she “gave in” but then went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
She alleged she was under his “influence and power”.
Mr Layfield told the jury the teenager willingly got into his car and that the sexual intercourse which followed was “a mutual thing that happened”.
Daily Mail, June 9th, 2015
Tom Rawstorne and James Tozer, ‘Preying on his Prodigies’
WITH his mop of ginger hair and thick-rimmed spectacles, music teacher Malcolm Layfield hardly cut the figure of a stereotypical Lothario. But when it came to satisfying his lust for young, impressionable girls, it was his power, not his appearance, that mattered.
While in his 30s, Layfield slept with half-a-dozen or so of his pupils, the youngest of them 17. Alcohol would generally be first consumed, after which sex would follow often in the distinctly unromantic setting of the back seat of his car.
The fact that Layfield was married didn’t stop him. If anything, it seemed to add an extra frisson to his philandering.
On one occasion, it was claimed that he had sex with a teenager while his wife and two young children were elsewhere in the house, though Layfield denies this.
Nor was the music master put off by the fact the girls he slept with happened to be his pupils.
A violin teacher at Manchester’s world-famous Chetham’s School of Music, time and again he abused his position for his own sexual gratification.
Details of Layfield’s predatory behaviour which he admitted was shameful’ were outlined last week during a trial at Manchester Crown Court. Now 63, he was accused of raping one of those teenage pupils in the early Eighties. She alleged that having plied her with alcohol, he pounced on her in the back of his car.
Layfield claimed the sex was consensual and yesterday the jury agreed, finding him not guilty.
But this is far from the end of it. Not only is the alleged victim planning to sue Chetham’s for failing to safeguard its young pupils, but the trial has brought to light yet more evidence of the shocking goings-on at the school, which is charged with nurturing Britain’s most brilliant musical minds.
The case also raises more questions as to why the authorities took so long to investigate the allegations, despite many opportunities.
What the jury was not told about were the links between the Layfield case and that of Michael Brewer, another former Chetham’s teacher. Brewer was jailed for six years in 2013 after being convicted of indecently assaulting Frances Andrade, also a pupil, when she was 14 and 15.
During Brewer’s trial, following a particularly traumatic cross-examination, mother-of-four Mrs Andrade, a brilliant violinist, took her own life. But not before she had told the court of her concerns about not just Brewer, but Malcolm Layfield, too.
She claimed that everyone knew about Layfield’s illicit relationships, but that Brewer the all-powerful head of music had hidden’ what was going on because he was compromised by his own abuse of her.
She also revealed that in 2002 she had reported her concerns about Layfield to police and to the college where he was then working, but no action was taken.
Only after Mrs Andrade’s death, and the publicity that followed it, would the accusations against him be investigated. Inspired by Mrs Andrade, a number of female ex-pupils, including the one who accused him of rape, came forward to voice their concerns about Layfield.
And while he may have been acquitted, he has not got off scot-free. As well as having been forced to quit his latest job, he has also been divorced by his long-suffering wife.
What he did all those years ago was always going to come back and bite him,’ said a former pupil. The only shame is it has taken so long.’
Malcolm Layfield was a gifted child from a troubled background. His father, John, killed himself aged 38, and left a suicide note which, said the coroner at his inquest, dealt with difficulties of a private nature’.
While at grammar school in County Durham, the young Malcolm took up the violin and then joined the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music and Drama, where he met his future wife, Cathie, a cellist.
He then took a part-time job in Manchester, teaching violin at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), then, in 1977, also began working at Chetham’s.
The Layfields married the same year and went on to have a son, who is now a policeman, and a daughter.
As well as teaching, Layfield performed in leading orchestras and founded the Goldberg Ensemble, a string ensemble that performs to worldwide critical acclaim.
In other words, this was a man who was going places particularly when seen through the wide eyes of his pupils. Chetham’s is the largest specialist music school in the country, with some 300 pupils, boys and girls aged eight to 18, most of whom are boarders. At the time Brewer and Layfield taught there, it would appear normal rules did not apply.
I wouldn’t have wanted to be a girl at Chet’s,’ a former pupil told the Mail. There were girls getting pregnant by other pupils at 14 it was considered perfectly normal.’
And it wasn’t just the pupils. Teaching was on a one-to-one basis, the school a hothouse where young musicians laid their souls bare’ to impress their teachers.
For Layfield, the temptations were too hard to resist. Indeed, such was his reputation, he was known as Malcolm Lay-A-Lot’, while his colleague was known as Brewer The Screwer’.
During the court case, Layfield admitted to a number of inappropriate relationships’ with pupils. In the past, he has admitted there were at least six. These, he claims, involved girls no younger than 17.
The woman at the centre of this trial was one such pupil, joining Chetham’s at 14.
Malcolm went out of his way to cultivate a relationship where he was the mentor, the father figure,’ she said.
The incident she claimed was rape took place in the early Eighties during a course in Cornwall run by Layfield and his wife. One evening, Layfield laid on a vodka punch for the pupils whom he then encouraged to take part in a risqué cabaret. Very drunk, she said she retreated upstairs and got into her sleeping bag, only to be told to come back downstairs. The prosecution claimed Layfield knew she was inebriated and took advantage of her.
He drove her in his black Lancia to an isolated spot, got into the back of the car and had sex with her.
There was no violence, but he was using his strength,’ she said. I suppose I just gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since.’
In his defence, Layfield claimed the sex was consensual and that he didn’t recall his pupil appearing to be drunk. He claimed that during the earlier cabaret, the girl had worn a black dress with fishnet stockings and sung a suggestive song entitled The Masochism Tango, which he had taken as a come-on’ directed at him.
The complainant refuted this, saying: It does not matter what people sing or choose to wear, this is not an invitation to rape.’ She said she didn’t report the rape at the time because she feared no one would believe her.
The following term she started at the RNCM. She said she slept with Layfield on a number of further occasions, generally in the back of his car and once at his home while his wife and children were in the house (he denied this). I was just going along with it,’ she said. There was no romance. It was just him abusing his power to get sex.’
She said he later told her that if she changed teachers at the college, he would take all her freelance work, such as playing in ensembles, away from her. Again, he denied this.
After the relationship fizzled out, she said she tried to forget what had happened. But, in 2002, she was prompted to make a complaint after learning that Layfield, who had stopped teaching at Chetham’s in 1997, was to be promoted to head of strings at the RNCM.
A number of tutors at the college, led by Martin Roscoe, a world-renowned concert pianist, objected, as did some former pupils. They separately contacted Professor Edward Gregson, then principal of the college, to warn him of Layfield’s past.
Mrs Andrade also contacted the police and the RNCM.
Are you aware,’ she wrote, that when we were 16, Malcolm Layfield took various students to the pub where large quantities of alcohol were bought for the girls which made them less able to resist what then followed?’
In July 2002, the Daily Mail highlighted the allegations against Layfield and published detailed accounts of a number of women who claimed to have had relationships with him while at Chetham’s.
The modus operandi they revealed was one that usually involved drink (he was said to have kept a bottle of whisky in his car) flattery and promises to help the students’ careers.
One told how she’d had sex with him in his teaching room, another at his home after being plied with drink, only realising what had happened when I saw the whisky glass by the bed’ the following morning.
The women spoke of being emotionally scarred by their relationships’ with him, one saying she had been in and out of psychiatric care and had even attempted suicide.
Despite the seriousness of their claims, Layfield was nonetheless appointed to the post which he would hold for the next 11 years.
Principal Gregson and Lord Armstrong chairman of the RNCM’s board of governors, a former Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service under Margaret Thatcher claimed they had thoroughly looked into the claims, that Layfield had admitted to six relationships with students, and that all those involved were consenting and not under-age.
All the occurrences happened at least eight years ago, and in many cases much longer,’ Gregson wrote.
In our discussions with Mr Layfield, he has admitted and expressed his regret for all the occurrences to which our attention had been drawn, and indeed some others of which we were not previously aware, which also date back eight years or more.’
Mr Roscoe, meanwhile, received
a letter from the RNCM’s director of resources, warning him not to communicate with any third party, either inside or outside the college, about any of the details that have been considered as this might bring the name of the college into disrepute’.
He quit his post in protest.
Thanks, however, to the bravery of 48-year-old Mrs Andrade, that was not to be the end of the matter.
The trial of Brewer lifted the lid not just on his sordid abuse of Mrs Andrade (he was jailed for six years, while his wife, Kay, received 21 months for the role she had played in one incident), but also brought the spotlight to bear on Malcolm Layfield’s activities.
Following her tragic death and the conviction of Brewer, questions were immediately raised about the behaviour of a number of other teachers at Chetham’s Layfield included.
As a number of women came forward to air their concerns, Layfield was finally forced to resign his job as head of strings at the RNCM in 2013.
Soon afterwards, his wife, Cathie, a marriage guidance counsellor, divorced him leaving him with nowhere to live but on a rented houseboat that is moored in Manchester.
Layfield was initially arrested over allegations that he had raped three women aged 16 to 18, but he was eventually charged with a single count of rape.
After a trial lasting a week and with just an hour’s deliberation, the jury found him not guilty.
But while it meant that he left the court yesterday without a criminal record, the stain on his reputation is one that is unlikely ever to fade.
Slipped Disc, June 9th, 2015
Norman Lebrecht, ‘Malcolm Layfield is Innocent. What Now?’
Slipped Disc editorial
The former Chetham’s violin and head of strings at Royal Northern College of Music was cleared within 90 minutes by a jury of the single charge on which he was tried; the alleged rape of an 18 year-old female student some 30 years ago. Layfield, 63, is under British justice, cleared of all stigma and is free to resume his career.
But the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse at English music schools has not gone away.
In court, under oath, Layfield admitted with regret to having several affairs with his students at Chetham’s during the 1980s. He was not the only teacher to do so. Evidence was heard that Chetham’s was, at best, negligent during that period in exercising its duty of care towards vulnerable teenagers. Further evidence indicated that complaints by students against teachers who abused their authority in this way were not dealt with in an appropriate manner.
Sexual abuse in English music schools has been covered up for a full generation. Those who engaged in the cover-up – governors, headteachers, teachers – have not been called to account. There remains a strong case for a public inquiry to be held where both victims and those in authority can raise their voices and lay the wretched past to rest.
The law is a blunt instrument. Malcolm Layfield, innocent, will have to rebuild his practice from scratch. A public inquiry would obviate the need for further prosecutions and allow the healing process to begin.
Former Chetham’s and Royal Northern College of Music violin teacher Malcolm Layfield, 63, has been found not guilty of raping a former pupil.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Layfield, who had been accused of raping an 18-year-old female student in the early 1980s.
During the trial, Layfield admitted that he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students, the youngest of whom was 17, throughout the 1980s. He described these relationships as ‘shameful’, but denied that he had ‘crossed the line’ during a summer school in Cornwall.
Layfield had been accused of driving the woman to an isolated spot in the middle of the night and raping her while she was drunk. The complainant said she subsequently ‘gave in’ and went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks.
The former violin teacher denied the allegation that he used his ‘power and influence’ – including threats to prevent her from gaining work opportunities if she changed tutor – to commit the offence against the teenager in the back of his car.
The trial heard that Layfield was well known for having relationships with students, and his appointment as head of strings at the RNCM in 2002 was controversial.
Speaking to the BBC, pianist Martin Roscoe – who was RNCM’s head of keyboards at the time and who appeared at the trial – said he had been ‘absolutely shocked’ at the college’s decision.
Roscoe continued: ‘On ethical grounds, on moral grounds, that is the behaviour of someone who should not be put in a position of pastoral care, dealing with students of any age, in my view.’
Layfield’s solicitor, Matthew Claughton, said the verdict had some as a ‘huge relief’ to his client.
Tweet from Tom Rawstorne, @Rawsty, June 9th, 2015
‘Woman in Layfield case is now suing Chetham’s for failure to safeguard children, say her lawyers at Slater & Gordon. Signficant. @ian_pace’
Article from Music Teacher Magazine on Safeguarding, with Guidelines for Teachers and Students
Posted: April 27, 2015 Filed under: Abuse, Music - General, Musical Education | Tags: abuse, music education, music school abuse, Philip Pickett 10 CommentsAn article I wrote calling for conservatoires to take the lead in ensuring a new safe environment for students, in the wake of the Philip Pickett trial, was published in the April issue of Music Teacher magazine, accompanied by my proposed guidelines for students and teachers at tertiary level. With permission from the magazine, I reproduce the article here.
New Surrey Safeguarding Report on suicide of Frances Andrade draws attention to dangers of music education
Posted: April 10, 2014 Filed under: Abuse, Chetham's, Musical Education, Specialist Music Schools | Tags: chetham's, Frances Andrade, music school abuse, surrey safeguarding adult's board 12 CommentsA report published today by the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board (which can be accessed here; a summary and press release can be downloaded here). There is much to be said about the long report and its comments on Chetham’s School, but I wanted for now to draw people’s attention to one passage in particular which is most pertinent:
Music schools, in common with other “hothousing” establishments, create pressures that may have a particularly damaging impact on young people who are vulnerable and/or without parental support. These settings are competitive, and feed into expectations already placed on the young person to be “special” and to succeed. The adults around them, who are often prominent performers in their own right, are invested with exceptional power and influence and are in a position of trust from which they exert considerable leverage over whether their pupils achieve success in their chosen fields. The music world is not alone in this regard, -similar pressures arise in elite sports academies, boarding schools, ballet schools, cathedral and choir schools, drama and performing arts courses, art schools and other areas of endeavour that create a backdrop for this very particular and potent form of grooming.
‘Chethams School provided an ideal environment for this kind of abuse to occur. The school seemed unaware of the risks of sexual abuse and it does not appear to have proactively promoted a child protection agenda. Boundaries were blurred and some staff seemed at times to act with impunity. When, Mrs A was sent, as a teenager, to live with MB and his family it was effectively a private fostering arrangement, put in place without any proper scrutiny or formal overview. The atmosphere of elite performance teaching created what one pupil described as a belief that you were “special”6 and it placed teachers in an exclusive and powerful position in relation to their protégés.
In response to this case another music teacher (MR), a man who had acted as a whistle-blower, published an article offering a window onto the culture in these circles at the time we are speaking of from which it can be seen that Mrs A was not alone in being at risk from abusive sexual relationships and unprofessional behaviour. MR later said,
Music lessons are one-to-one… So, if you’re determined to behave wrongly, there’s the opportunity: “It’s one of the easiest situations to abuse, I would have thought.”
He further discussed how music teaching in particular, takes place in a context of emotional intensity and that pupils’ crushes on staff are commonplace.
So this culture of sexualised behaviour between teachers and pupils that developed in the school at that time was, to some extent, known about and condoned. This culture may also have prevailed at the Royal Northern College of Music as there was considerable overlapping of staff, and this became the focus of contention specifically in relation to the appointment of ML to a senior post at the college. MR publicly confronted the principle of the college about the suitability of this appointment, given widespread allegations about ML’s sexual exploitation of young women students, at considerable cost to his career7. When he made his concerns public, he received many letters of support from students disclosing past abuses and concerns. Mrs A was one such pupil/student. When his whistle-blower’s warnings went unheeded, he recounted that
“Letters from pupils and professional musicians poured in, one was from [Mrs A] … She was a force to be reckoned with …”There was tremendous passion and anger.” Chethams therefore represented a very particular context in which it was possible for MB to target and groom Mrs A from a position of trust, power and influence. Although it seems to have been common knowledge that some teachers within the music network around Chethams and the Royal Northern Music School had sexual relationships with their pupils this was not formally addressed.
1. THIS REVIEW DID NOT HAVE A MANDATE TO COMMENT ON ISSUES OF CHILD PROTECTION BUT URGES CHILDREN’S SAFEGUARDING BOARDS AND THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS INSPECTORATE TO PAY ATTENTION TO ALL SCHOOLS ESPECIALLY, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, BOARDING SCHOOLS INCLUDING THOSE CONCERNED WITH “SPECIAL” PUPILS OR THOSE THAT HAVE ELITE STATUS. THIS INCLUDES SO CALLED “FREE” SCHOOLS THAT EXIST TO SOME EXTENT OUTSIDE OF LOCAL NETWORKS.
Having written about this very subject myself almost a year ago (Ian Pace, ‘The culture of music education lends itself to abuse’, Times Education Supplement, May 11th, 2013), I am more than glad that others are starting to recognise this issue and the particular problems inherent to musical education. More to follow later.
UPDATED: Alan Doggett, first conductor of Joseph and Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Paedophile Information Exchange
Posted: March 28, 2014 Filed under: Abuse, Alan Doggett, Musical Education, PIE, Public Schools | Tags: abuse in music, alan doggett, andrew lloyd webber, andrew norfolk, colet court, colin ward, culford school, dominic grieve, evita, jason and the golden fleece, jesus christ superstar, joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat, julian lloyd webber, london boy singers, magpie, michael ingram, music school abuse, paedophile information exchange, paul andrews, st paul's school, tim rice, westminster underschool 14 Comments[A full collection of Andrew Norfolk’s articles on Colet Court, St Paul’s, and Alan Doggett can be read here]
An article was published in the Daily Mail in December (Guy Adams, ‘Apologists for Paedophiles: How Labour Deputy Harriet Harman, her shadow minister husband and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt were all linked to a group lobbying for the right to have sex with children’, Daily Mail, 14/12/13, updated 20/12/13 ), which pre-empted the rush of media coverage which has emerged in the last two weeks. This concerned the connection between the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, her husband Jack Dromey, Shadow Minister for Policing and former union official, and former cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt, all involved with the National Council for Civil Liberties in the 1970s and 1980s, which was affiliated to PIE (and took out an ad in their journal Magpie in 1979). I have blogged at length reproducing documents relating to NCCL and PIE (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here), and also on the Whitehall senior civil servant (formerly a church minister and teacher of theology in India, later a musicologist and classical scholar) Clifford Hindley, who has been identified as the individual who secured government funding for PIE.
But another name appeared in the December article, which has not really been investigated further prior to this article: that of boys’ choir conductor and teacher Alan Doggett (1936-1978), who had an extended and important relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. A letter about the suicide of Doggett in 1978 appeared in Issue 10 of Magpie (Letters, Magpie, Issue No. 10 (no date), p. 4) and a notice of his memorial service in the subsequent issue (‘Alan Doggett – Memorial Service’, Magpie, Issue No. 11 (May 1978), p. 2 – both this and the letter can be read in the fourth of my PIE blog posts linked to above), to both of which I will return presently. The Mail article named Doggett as a member of PIE; a source close to the heart of current police investigations has confirmed to me that this was definitely the case.
Doggett is listed in the second Magpie article as having worked as conductor of the London Boys’ Choir (erroneously titled here – this was the London Boy Singers), and was to be remembered for his ‘friendliness, integrity and loyalty’. But his claim to fame is stronger than this; as has been chronicled in various books and articles about or by Lloyd Webber and Rice, he was responsible for commissioning and conducting Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, conducting the recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, and sharing the conducting for Evita, as well as writing his own musical, Jason and the Golden Fleece, inspired by these earlier examples. A scholarly article argues for Doggett’s close involvement with Lloyd Webber and Rice, saying that ‘he was effectively a third member of the team prior to the international success of Jesus Christ Superstar’ (David Chandler, ‘’Everyone should have the opportunity’: Alan Doggett and the modern British Music’, Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2012), pp. 275-289 (quotation from p. 275) – this article mentions nothing about the more troubling aspects of Doggett’s life, other than mentioning in passing that he committed suicide), whilst Andrew Lloyd Webber paid fulsome tribute to Doggett in an article published in the Mail in 2012 (‘’I owe my success to an abseiling vicar’ says Andrew Lloyd Webber as he opens up about the highs and lows of his career’, Daily Mail, September 24th, 2012).
In this article, I give an overview of Doggett’s life and work, and appeal to those who may have known or worked with him in (especially those who studied at Westminster Under School, Colet Court School, or who sung in the London Boy Singers or in the larger massed boy choirs he assembled) to come forward if they have any relevant information.
Alan Doggett was born on November 29th, 1936, in Epsom, Surrey. His father was Kenneth Raymond Doggett, who edited the shipping journal Dock and Harbour Authority. Alan grew up in Iver, Buckinghamshire, where he took piano lessons from an early age, and attended Colet Court, before going on to read history at Selwyn College, Cambridge (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 277 – all other information not sourced elsewhere comes from here. Some of Chandler’s information on Doggett’s early life comes from correspondence with Doggett’s sister Jennifer Acornley, Ian Hunter, Doggett’s successor at Colet Court, and Julian Lloyd Webber). One account describes him as ‘a discreet homosexual’ who ‘ was enthusiastic about music but only modestly gifted’ (Michael Walsh, Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works (Harmondsworth: Viking, 1989), p. 37). His first job was as a history teacher at Westminster Under School, where he doubled as a music teacher and led the school choir (ibid). In this capacity he taught the young Julian Lloyd Webber (b. 1951), who attended the school between 1961 and 1963 and was a member of the choir (Tim Rice, Oh, What a Circus: The Autobiography (Coronet Books, 1999), p. 131). Through Julian, Alan Doggett came to meet his father William Lloyd Webber, and began to take an interest in the compositions of Julian’s brother Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948), helping him with notational matters (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 37). At some point during this period, Doggett also served as a vicar-choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, alongside Ian Hunter, who would become his assistant at Colet Court and later his successor (Jonathan Mantle, Fanfare: The Unauthorised Biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber (M. Joseph, 1989), pp. 30, 41).
In 1963, Doggett was appointed as Director of Music at Colet Court, an independent boys’ preparatory school established in 1881 which is linked to St Paul’s School, and whose headmaster from 1957 to 1973 was Henry J.G. Collis (1913-1994). Some prominent alumni of Colet Court include Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone (1928-), Sir Paul Lever (1944-), Paul Anthony Cartledge (1947-), John Cody Fidler Simpson (1944-), Sir Nicholas Felix Stadlen (1950-), Lloyd Marshal Dorfman (1952-), Jonathan Simon Speelman (1956-), the Conservative MP Dominic Grieve MP (1956-), Oliver Tom Parker (1960-) and Barnaby David Waterhouse Thompson (1961-) (David Bussey, John Colet’s Children: The Boys of St Paul’s School in later life (1509-2009) (Oxford: Gresham Books, 2009), pp. 157, 169, 172, 174-175, 182, 185, 188, 193, 196-197; parliamentary profile of Dominic Grieve).
At Colet Court, Doggett he brought in a system of vocal training based upon that of the Vienna Boys’ Choir (most distinct from traditional English methods), as well as finding external performance opportunities for the choir (Gerald McKnight, Andrew Lloyd Webber (London, Toronto, Sydney & New York: Granada Publishing, 1984), p. 85; Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 277). He also worked as organist at the school, at least by December 1964 (At least by December 1964. See advert in The Musical Times, Vol. 105, No. 1462 (December 1964), p. 936. Doggett had a letter published in The Musical Times in August 1966, entitled ‘Let the Children Sing’, just talking about the nature of school choirs; he was then listed as belonging to St Paul’s Junior School (the same thing as Colet Court). See The Musical Times, Vol. 107, No. 1482 (August 1966), pp. 687-688).
In 1964, Doggett also set up a choir at Emmanuel Parish Church, West Hampstead; his address at the time was given as SW1 2580 (see advert in The Musical Times, Vol. 105, No. 1451 (Jan 1964), p. 64). The vicar at the church during this period was The Reverend Jack Dover Wellman (The Rev Dr Peter Galloway, ‘A short history and guide to Emmanuel Church West Hampstead’) , who appears to have been an eccentric figure who wrote two books entitled A Priest’s Psychic Diary, with introduction by Richard Baker (London: SPCK, 1977) and A Priest and the Paranormal (Worthing: Churchman, 1988). Wellman also appeared on an edition of the late night Channel 4 programme After Dark, on April 30th, 1988, to discuss the subject ‘Bewitched, Bothered, or Bewildered?’, chaired by Anthony Wilson (see ‘After Dark 2’).
In 1965, Doggett already became more closely associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, helping out with some of the demonstration recordings of their musical The Likes of Us, written that year, about the life of Thomas Barnardo. Already on these recordings the Colet Court choir featured as the homeless children who Barnardo was helping, in stage cockney accents (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 131; Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 277, Mantle, Fanfare, p. 30). Rice described him as an ‘extremely camp teacher, who was some ten years older than I was’, and ‘a talented music master, though a less talented composer, always on the lookout for a new way of instilling enthusiasm for music into his young charges (aged eight to thirteen)’ (ibid).
But at some point whilst working at Colet Court, Doggett began to systematically abuse young boys there; since the appearance of the first version of this article, and the important subsequent articles by Andrew Norfolk in The Times (Andrew Norfolk, ‘Teachers ‘abused boys at Osborne’s old school”, ”The teacher sat us on his lap until his face went very red”, and ‘Friends to stars had easy access to boys’, all The Times, March 25th, 2014; Norfolk, ‘Boys punished for telling of abuse by teacher’, The Times, March 28th, 2014), numerous former pupils have come forward to testify about their abuse at the hands of Doggett (and other teachers at Colet Court and St Paul’s). One pupil, ‘Luke Redmond’ (not his real name), was sexually assaulted by three different men at Colet Court by the time he reached the age of 12. These were Doggett, the dorm monitor Paul Topham, who went on to become an Anglican priest, and was questioned under caution by police in 2000, though no charges were brought before his death in 2012, and a housemaster known as ‘Alex’ Alexander, who took pleasure in punishing boys in a sexualised fashion before taking them on his lap and giving them sweets and physical affection. On Doggett, the final printed version of the article says the following (not all included in the link above):
Luke’s abuse by Alan Doggett, Colet Court’s director of music, was a once-only indecent assault during the boy’s compulsory audition for the choir. [From earlier version of article: Doggett’s auditions of boarders were always when pupils were dressed for bed. Luke stood by the piano. As he sang, Doggett’s hand explored beneath the waistband of his pyjamas.]
A far worse fate awaited another boy in his dormitory, a year younger than Luke, who was angelic in both voice and looks. He was Doggett’s chosen one, summoned far too often from their dormitory to spend long hours at night in the choirmaster’s bedroom. (Norfolk, ”The teacher sat us on his lap until his face went very red”).
Another account by ‘Stephen’, one of the boys who eventually reported Doggett, leading to the latter’s leaving the school, spoke of what amounts to child prostitution, which boys receiving money from Doggett for allowing him to sexually abuse them:
“He had one particular favourite who received regular visits in the dormitory at night. He’d abuse the poor boy without seeming to care that we could all see and watch what was happening.”
Other ex-pupils spoke this week of open gossip among the boys that “half a crown” was the “going rate for a session with Doggett”. One said that his year group even coined a new verb: to be “Doggoed” was to be groped and fondled. (Norfolk, ‘Boys punished for telling of abuse by teacher’)
In late 1967, Doggett contacted Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, to request a cantata for the school’s annual spring concert. The headmaster of Colet Court, Henry Collis, had been quickly won over by Doggett’s proposal, despite some conservative doubts about setting a biblical story to popular music (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 85-86). To Lloyd Webber and Rice, Doggett made clear that he wanted something short and sharp, ideally a cantata on a religious theme, a story through song, though giving them carte blanche over the subject matter (Michael Coveney, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story (London: Arrow Books, 2000), p. 53; Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 131; Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 41-42). Doggett nonetheless suggested a biblical subject, thinking of what Michael Coveney refers to as that sort of unbuttoned Christian sing-along represented by such pieces as Herbert Chappell’s The Daniel Jazz (which he had produced the year before), Michael Flanders and Joseph Horovitz’s Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo and indeed Benjamin Britten’s exemplary Noye’s Fludde (Coveney, The Lloyd Webber Story, p. 53). Rice found the story of Jacob’s son, Joseph, who was landed in trouble by his dreams and coat of many colours, leading his brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he becomes a prophetic guru to the Pharaoh, in The Wonder Book of Bible Stories (ibid; Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 132). This would become Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Lloyd Webber and Doggett worked together at the music room of Colet Court whilst the work was being composed, and Lloyd Webber was prepared to accept suggestions from the choir (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 42; Rice, Oh, What a Circus, pp. 133, 135).
The world premiere of Joseph took place on Friday March 1st, 1968, at 2:30 pm, in the Assembly Hall of Colet Court, conducted by Doggett himself, an ad hoc pop group called The Mixed Bag, including Rice (who took the part of Elvis/Pharaoh) and singer David Daltrey, a cousin of Roger’s (from The Who), who led the principal solo numbers for Joseph himself (see Rice, Oh, What a Circus, pp. 136-142, for a detailed account; also McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 87-88, for Ian Hunter’s account). The school was itself about to move from its 1890 premises in Hammersmith to new buildings across the river in Barnes, and this performance would be the last in the old Assembly Hall (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 37). The first half of the concert consisted of performances by the pianist John Lill, and both Julian and William Lloyd Webber; for Joseph, Ian Hunter played the piano and Julian played the cello (Stephen Citron, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber: The New Musical (London: Chatto & Windus, 2001), p. 117). Several hundred parents were present and clapped politely (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 37), but also on that day, a representative of the music publisher Novello’s, who had been invited to the premiere by Doggett and had given it an advance listing in what was then their flagship periodical, The Musical Times (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, pp. 279-280 – Chandler is sceptical about the account offered later in Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 148), offered to take on the piece, and pay £100 for it, as an educational work for schools (Lloyd Webber, ‘I owe my success to an abseiling vicar’).
The next performance took place at Westminster Central Hall, on May 12th, 1968, and involved 300 boys from Colet Court, conducted by Doggett (advert in The Musical Times, Vol. 109, No. 1503 (May 1968) p. 464. It had been organised by William Lloyd Webber, who was organist and musical director at Central Hall, and who played the organ in the performance (Hunter played the harpsichord) (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 45). The first half of the concert, attended by around two thousand people, including many parents, consisted of performances by the pianist John Lill, and both Julian and William (Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 117; Lloyd Webber, ‘I owe my success to an abseiling vicar’). One boy in the choir was Nicholas Jewell, who had persuaded his father Derek Jewell, pop critic for the Sunday Times, to attend the performance (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 88-89). Jewell published an extremely positive review, which recognised the importance of Doggett’s role, the following weekend in the Sunday Times, on May 19th, 1968 (see Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 46-47, for the review; see also McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 91-93, Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 282), which caused jubilation amongst all involved with the production.
Eight weeks later, a recording was being made for Decca at the studios at Abbey Road of an expanded version for augmented ensemble with solo voices (a cast consisting of Terry Saunders, David Daltrey, Malcolm Parry, Tim Rice, John Cook, Bryan Watson) and rock musicians. The twelve or so Colet Court choirboys served as a backing group, with Doggett conducting and a ‘Joseph Consortium’ with William Lloyd Webber helping out on organ, and Martin Wilcox on harpsichord; some vocal backing was provided by Andrew and Tim Rice (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 47; Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 148; the recording was Scepter/Capital (S) SMAS 93738. See Jerry Osborne, Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings Price and Reference Guide (Jerry Osborne: Jerry Osborne Enterprises, 2002), p. 1982; see Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, pp. 281-282 for Rice and other’s attempts to marginalise the importance of Doggett and Novello’s in this process). Jonathan Mantle points out that ‘Half the boys of Colet Court were bussed over to sit at the sides of the grand Victorian hall and make up the choruses’ (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 45), but it is not clear whether these amounted to the twelve singers he mentions, or constituted others as well. Whichever, a large percentage of boys at Colet Court in 1968 would have been involved in this performance. A further performance was given in St Paul’s Cathedral on November 9th, 1968, again with Doggett conducting, William Lloyd Webber on organ, and received a positive review by Ray Connolly in the Evening Standard (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 51; McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 98-99).
But at some point between the Westminster performance in May 1968 and the recording in November 1968, Doggett left Colet Court; the exact date is unclear. The following accounts have been provided by former pupils:
Stephen (his surname is withheld), the pupil who ended Doggett’s Colet Court career, said that he and a friend decided to speak to the school’s headmaster, Henry Collis, after Doggett indecently assaulted both 11-year-olds as they sat on each side of him during a televised football match in May 1968.
“It was the Manchester United v Benfica European Cup Final. We were sitting on the floor and Doggett’s hands were groping inside our pyjama bottoms.
“He wouldn’t leave us alone. He’d already had a go at me in the dormitory on quite a few occasions,” Stephen said. After the match, the two pupils decided that “he’s got to be stopped”. They informed Mr Collis, who was headmaster of Colet Court from 1957 to 1973 and served as chairman of the Independent Preparatory Schools Association.
Stephen said: “When I next went home on exeat that weekend, the school had telephoned my father to complain that I’d made up terrible stories about Doggett. Dad asked me what had been going on. When I told him, he said he believed me and I’d done the right thing in speaking out, but when I got back to the school the two of us were summoned to Mr Collis’s study.
“I can still see us standing in front of his desk on the Monday morning.He was furious. He said we were wicked for making up such awful lies. Mr Doggett was so appalled and embarrassed by the disgraceful things we’d said that he’d decided to leave the school. We should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. He gave us detention.”
Stephen said that another boy in their year suffered far worse crimes at Doggett’s hands: (Norfolk, ‘Boys punished for telling of abuse by teacher’)
The Manchester United/Benfica match in question was the 1968 European Cup Final, at Wembley Stadium, which took place on May 29th, 1968, thus just two-and-a-half weeks after the second performance of Joseph in Westminster Central Hall. This is consistent with Gerald McKnight’s assertion that ‘Doggett’s remarkable vision was barely completed when he left the school’ (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, p. 86).
Other accounts differ as to the reasons of veracity thereof of his departure; Michael Walsh writes of his having ‘been let go at Colet Court, with rumors of his homosexual predilections swirling about him’ (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67), whilst Stephen Citron claims Doggett was ‘let go at Colet Court because he had sexually molested one of the choirboys’, causing his career to go into a tailspin (Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5); whereas Mantle just says that Doggett ‘left his job at Colet Court’, though later that ‘he had left his post with the choir of Colet Court, but he had been unable to leave them alone’, leaving little doubt who ‘them’ were (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 91, 130). The account by ‘Stephen’ suggests that Doggett left of his own volition, though it is very possible that some pressure was brought upon him to take this decision. Tim Rice writes in his biography, looking back at this incident from the vantage point of Doggett’s suicide in 1978, that:
The only previous time in ten years that Andrew and I had come across such rumours concerning Alan, the allegations were proven to be exactly that, as the time and place of the supposed transgression clashed precisely with a recording date at which all three of us were continually present. It has been known for young boys, and more commonly their parents, to manufacture or exaggerate incidents when they know and (understandably) disapprove of a teacher’s inclinations. (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 401)
However, Rice did not discount the possibility that the allegations which would surface ten years later were true, making clear that he was not claiming ‘that Alan was squeaky clean throughout his musical dealings with his singers’ (ibid). His successor in the position was his former assistant at the school, Ian Hunter (ibid), who would go on to present Joseph again various times at the school (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 99-100); Hunter would also go on to become Deputy Headmaster of Colet Court at some time around 1973-74 (my thanks to another former Colet Court pupil for confirming this to me).
Rice’s inclination not to believe the 1968 allegations needs to be revisited (and perhaps his autobiography rewritten) in light of the latest information. Furthermore, there are questions to be asked about what Hunter and others knew about Doggett’s activities at the school, which could hardly have been very secret if carried out with many boys and in open view of others.
Doggett’s subsequent teaching positions after leaving Colet Court have become clearer due to information supplied by various people since the initial version of this article. Michael Walsh and Michael Coveney both mention Doggett’s teaching at the City of London School at the time when Lloyd Webber and Rice wrote their short-lived musical Come Back Richard in November 1969 (from which just one title single was released by RCA that month), which Doggett conducted at the school (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 59; Coveney, The Lloyd Webber Story, p. 58; see also John Snelson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, with foreword by Geoffrey Block (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 222 n. 9), but Chandler claims that his only connection was through being invited to adjudicate the school’s Junior Music Competition in 1969 (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 282, n. 4). Walsh also writes that Doggett ‘had caught on at another London school and then abruptly left to lead a choir called the London Boy Singers [see below]’ (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67), but without clarifying if he is again referring to the City of London School here.
Since the first appearance of this blog article and the subsequent articles on Doggett in The Times, two individuals have come forward to confirm that Doggett did indeed work at City of London School on a more permanent basis after leaving Colet Court (thus contradicting the account given in Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 282 n. 4, based upon information provided to him by Terry Heard, archivist at City of London School), teaching rowing as well as music (the latter probably only at the junior school).
Furthermore, one woman has contacted me to confirm that Doggett was also Head music teacher at St Mary’s School for Girls in Wiltshire Lane, Norwood, Middlesex (now part of Haydon School) in West London for several years in the 1970s (approximately 1972-75). In 1974, both Lloyd Webber and Rice came to give a talk and share their experiences (see comment from ‘louise’ here). This visit is also confirmed by a comment by Geraldine Maidment (née Stanley) on Friends Reunited boards. Doggett was the first male teacher allowed to teach at St. Mary’s, a school with around 600 girls (it is possible he had been excluded from teaching boys, but not girls, though this at present is just speculation); the girls apparently gave him something of a difficult time, but he gladly allowed them to bring pop records to class and regularly sing numbers from Joseph.
Furthermore, a comment posted below this by Tim Waygood indicates that Doggett taught music at Culford School for just around two terms in 1976-77, where he was resident teacher at Cadogan House, one of three live-in teachers . Waygood recalls Doggett taking boys to his room and beating their bare backsides, and describes him as a ‘terrifying man with a penchant for punishing boys’. In one case, he beat an 11-year old so badly with a hairbrush that he bled; Doggett left the school under hushed circumstances soon afterwards. Waygood was 12 when he heard he had killed himself. Apparently every boy knew how dodgy Doggett was, and there were suspicions about other teachers at the school.
Doggett also taught from August 26th to September 2nd 1969 at one of the Adult Summer Schools with concurrent Choirboys’ Courses for the Royal School of Church Music; this took place at Dean Close School, Cheltenham; fellow teachers included Geoffrey Barber, Michael English, Allen Ferns, Geoffrey Fletcher, W. J. Goodey, Richard Greening. (The Musical Times, Vol. 110, No. 1516 (June 1969), p. 561).
Doggett’s evangelism for popular music with religious themes was undiminished after his departure from Colet Court, and he published an article to that effect in 1969 (Doggett, ‘Pop here, my Lord?’, English Church Music 1969, pp. 37-40, cited in Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 278). Feeling a great pride in Joseph, Doggett advertised for ‘recruits’ in spring 1969 for a ‘mammoth school performance’ of the work, to be held in St. Paul’s, but it appears that this never took place (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 284; this includes a reproduction of the advert).
Doggett continued to make recordings with Lloyd Webber and Rice following that of Joseph; dates here are unclear, so that it is also unclear whether what Rice refers to as ‘Alan Doggett’s boy choir’, which he dubbed ‘the Wonderschool’, was the Colet Court choir or the London Boy Singers. Recordings were made of ‘Bike’, a Syd Barrett number which had appeared on the first Pink Floyd album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), and also of the Everly Brothers’ ‘Problems’, as well as some songs with the Mixed Bag and David Daltrey, but none of these were ever released by Decca. One which was a single featuring a solo choirboy who worked with Doggett; at present I am unclear as to the title of this song, but the B-side was a version of ‘Any Dream Will Do’, with changed lyrics, recorded in 1969 (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 166).
Around Christmas of 1969, Doggett had heard what would become the theme tune for Jesus Christ Superstar, and suggested to Lloyd Webber and Rice that they might use this for a musical based upon the Daily Mail Air Race; the composers decided instead upon the theme of Christ on the cross (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, p. 109). The recording of the new work (an album which preceded stage performances) was made in 1970. Doggett once again conducted the orchestra and a children’s choir (who are unidentified on the recording), together with singers Murray Head, Ian Gillan, Yvonne Elliman, Victor Brox, Brian Keith, Johnny Gustafson, Barry Dennen and Mike D’Abo, some of whom recorded their contributions after the orchestra and choir had finished in the studio. The part of the priest was played by Paul Raven, then the name of Gary Glitter, who of course was later convicted of multiple child sexual abuse and pornography charges. The orchestra featured strings from Malcolm Henderson’s City of London Ensemble, with Alan O’Duffy as engineer (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67; Rice, Oh, What a Circus, pp. 198-199). Doggett also conducted Lloyd Webber’s first film score in 1971, for Stephen Frears’ film Gumshoe (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 283).
But Lloyd Webber and Rice noticed that Doggett’s conducting was not really up to professional standards, and he seemed out of his depth with the more hard-rock sections of the Superstar recording, and so he was replaced first by Ian Hunter, then for the 1973 film version by André Previn (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67; Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5; Mantle, Fanfare, p. 91).
This would not however signify the end of Doggett’s collaborations with Lloyd Webber and Rice; there was a new surge of interest in Joseph at late 1972, for which Doggett was brought back to act as musical director for a production at the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Frank Dunlop, together with some medieval mystery plays. With some changes to the lyrics, the performance of Joseph was nonetheless relatively faithful to the original Doggett production (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 286). This production was then taken to the Roundhouse in London and to the Albery Theatre in the West End, and also televised and broadcast on the ITV network on December 24th, 1972, then again on December 23rd, 1973. The Albery performance was paired with a new Lloyd-Webber and Rice work, Jacob’s Journey, thus yet another premiere for Doggett (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 95-96; Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 285).
In 1970, Doggett became Director of the St Barnabas Singers (in Holland Park), who met on the first Sunday of each month. An advert for the choir indicated that the term’s programme would begin on October 4, including new setting of canticles written for the choir by Betty Roe. The address given was 23 Addison Road, W14. (The Musical Times, Vol. 111, No. 1532 (October 1970), p. 1050). He also served as organist at St Barnabas Anglican and Methodist Chuch, from some point around this time; the vicar of this church at the time of his death in 1978 was the Rev. Pat Kirwin (‘Sex case choirmaster killed on railway line’, Evening News, February 8th, 1978).
Then, by December 1971 at the latest, Doggett was working for the London Boy Singers (LBS) (sometimes mistakenly referred to as as the London Boys’ Choir). This was a group founded first in 1961 in order to supply a concert boys’ choir in England, and through the enthusiasm of Benjamin Britten, who served as President. It was initially known as the Finchley Boys’ Choir, formed from the Finchley Children’s Music Group. At first the LBS was run by a Board of Governors, with Eric Walter White as chairman; during this time they performed the premieres of Britten’s King Herod and the Cock and the Twelve Apostles, both dedicated to the choir, in June 1962 in Aldeburgh. The first artistic director was John Andrewes, followed by Jonathan Steele, who was conductor from the outset. However, Steele, broke with Britten and the Governors in 1966. The choir would continue through into the 1970s, and an archive is maintained by the London Boy Singers Association (see ‘London Boy Singers Association’ for more details).
According to one account written after Doggett’s death by a writer who appeared to know Doggett and his work well, Doggett became director of the LBS as early as 1964 (Colin Ward, ‘The saving grace of worldliness’, New Society, July 9th, 1981, p. 72). This is certainly not the account given by the official pages listed above, nor does it concur with the page of archived concert programme of the Finchley Children’s Music Group, which does not mention Doggett once (but mentions Steele twice). A major concert in March 1970 was conducted by Steele (Ronald Crichton, ‘London Boys Singers. St Anne’s and St. Agnes’, Financial Times, March 23rd, 1970, p. 3).I have found no evidence of an earlier involvement of Doggett’s with the choir, so conclude that his work with them probably post-dated Britten’s involvement with them. In December 1971, he was working together with David Rose, and both of their names were given for audition forms (see The Musical Times, Vol. 112, No. 1546 (December 1971), p. 1226). Tim Rice inaccurately refers to the LBS as having been ‘the choir he [Doggett] had formed since leaving regular school employment’ (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, pp. 351-352), but it had a longer history than that. In 1973, Doggett who had at some point earlier become Associate Director, was appointed Director of the LBS in succession to Steele (Musical Opinion, Vol. 97 (1973), p. 428). In this capacity, one commentator argues that he brought the choir to international fame (Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5). By 1975, a Paul Terry was writing to the Daily Mirror in gushing terms about the LBS, pointing out that they ‘have sung more than 210 part-songs in their concerts over the past six years – all from memory and in nine languages, including Russian, Hebrew and Welsh!’, their average age was 13½, and they were ‘just ordinary lads from schools all over London who love singing’, who had performed in as different locations as the West Country and Rome (where they had been the previous Easter, this was probably a trip to the Vatican referred to in a later article) and elsewhere in Europe (Letter from Paul Terry, Caithness Road, London, ‘Songsters’, Daily Mirror, August 26th, 1975, p. 16; Anthony Holden, ‘Tragic end for the music man’, The Sunday Times, February 19th, 1978).
Amongst the concerts of which there is documentary record of his conducting with the choir are one with Timothy Bond on the organ, at St. Vedast, Foster Lane, EC2, on July 11th, 1974 (The Times, June 6th, 1974, p. 7), one at the Exmouth Pavilion on August 3rd, 1975 (The Musical Times, Vol. 116, No. 1590 (Aug., 1975), p. 732), and one at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral on July 30th 1976 (The Musical Times, Vol. 117, No. 1598 (April 1976), p. 295).
Doggett also conducted a recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, with the City of London Ensemble, and Frankie Howerd as narrator, Polydor Carnival 2928 201 (1-25), which was reviewed in an issue of Gramophone from 1972 (p. 110). This version had been prepared by Rice, and Rice and Lloyd Webber were credited as producers on the recording (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 283). This was not the only art music he conducted during these years; he would also conduct the UK premiere of Schoenberg’s Sonata Fragment (1941) in 1974 (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 276, n. 1).
Doggett turned to trying to create a cantata/musical of his own along the lines of those of Lloyd Webber and Rice (perhaps, as Chandler suggests (‘Alan Doggett’, p. 284) as a way of realising his vision of a ‘mammoth school performance’ of Joseph); this would be Jason and the Golden Fleece, for which he wrote the music, and co-wrote the lyrics with the Hampstead poet Rita Ford (1931-1985); it was described as ‘A New Musical for Schools’ (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, pp. 285-286). The work received its first concert performance at St Barnabas Church, Addison Road, London W14 (where he worked with the St Barnabas Singers mentioned above) on Wednesday June 27th, 1973, hosted by City of London Productions (Advert in The Musical Times, Vol. 114, No. 1564 (June 1973), p. 589). A choir of 250 children were involved, a combination of the LBS, the Islington Green school choir, and also a selection of ‘largely untrained children’ from St. Barnabas and St Philip’s schools, and St Peter’s school in Hammersmith (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 286). The familial resemblances of this work to Joseph, not least in terms of both works’ use of a narrator, have been commented upon by various people, though also its weaknesses compared to the work of Lloyd Webber and Rice, both by critics at the time and later writers (see Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, pp. 285-287; Chandler is concerned to defend this work against the idea it might simply be a poor man’s Joseph). At the outset it received positive reviews from Hilary Finch and Barbara Denny, reviewing for the South Kensington News and Chelsea Post and Kensington News and Post (cited in Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 285).
The work would receive a further performance in a revised version on March 9th, 1977 at Westminster Central Hall, with large forces drawn from many London schools (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 287). This performance, however, received a markedly downbeat review from Merion Bowen, who wrote that the work ‘was not at all edifying’ and that Doggett’s music displays little of the flair shown by Andrew Lloyd Webber and others in the same vein, and Ford’s lyrics aren’t exactly inspired’ (Merion Bowen, ‘Jason and the Golden Fleece’, The Guardian, March 10th, 1977).
Despite having been replaced for the film version of Superstar, Doggett was involved in part in the conducting duties for Lloyd Webber’s score for the 1974 film of The Odessa File (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 283). Also, at some time in the mid-1970s, whilst Lloyd Webber and Rice were working on Evita, Rice also wrote some lyrics for a children’s album, Barbapapa, which was a spin-off from a Dutch TV series, and included Ed Stewart on the recording; Rice brought in Doggett and the LBS for the sessions (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 325).
When it came to the recording of Evita in 1976 (the first production would not come until two years later, after Doggett’s death), Doggett was credited as ‘Children’s Choirmaster, Musical Coordinator (names of all the main performers can be found here); the main conductor and choir director was Anthony Bowles. Rice would later write that Doggett ‘was gently relegated to directing the London Boy Singers’ (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, pp. 351-352), though he appears to have been quite happy in his allotted role (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 116).
The end came for Doggett in early 1978. As with his leaving Colet Court, accounts differ of the actual events. Michael Walsh writes that ‘When one of the boys [of the LBS] accused Doggett of molestation – apparently the accusation was false – the conductor was arrested and, as a condition of his bail, was forbidden to have any contact with his chorus’ (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67). Stephen Citron, who as mentioned earlier reports the molestation at Colet Court as an established fact, says that on this occasion Doggett was again ‘accused of molestation – this time presumably falsely – he was forbidden to have any contact with his chorus’ (Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5). Michael Coveney writes that Doggett ‘was still teaching and running his boys’ choirs but he was threatened with allegations about his private life and preferred not to risk public disgrace’ and that:
The tragedy is that it later emerged there was nothing on the files that was ever going to make any kind of case against him in court. Lloyd Webber remains convinced that Doggett would never have been guilty of taking advantage of any young person in his charge: ‘His main talent was in helping children to make music. He was convinced that every young person had music in him or her, and that it was never too late to stop learning. (Coveney, The Lloyd Webber Story, p. 112).
All three such writers assume either that Doggett was innocent or that the case against him would not stand up in court; Mantle on the other hand writes about ‘forbidden love’ which ‘took other, sadder forms’ and reports the ‘allegation of indecency’ right after arguing that ‘he [Doggett] had been unable to leave them alone [after leaving his post at Colet Court]’, presumably a reference to a proclivity for boys (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 130-131). McKnight does not even seem to have registered the event, claiming that Doggett died in 1973 (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, p. 99), whereas Rice hedges from committing himself to a view of Doggett’s guilt or innocence in 1978 (unlike in 1968) (see below). Another book on Lloyd Webber by John Snelson (Snelson, Lloyd Webber) only mentions Doggett once in passing in the main text, and briefly in two endnotes, so does not consider his death at all. But in most cases the defence or denial seems beset by doubt on the parts of the authors, suggesting their verdicts may reflect what they wish to have been the case rather than necessarily what did transpire.
Doggett was due to conduct a further performance of Jason and the Golden Fleece at the Royal Albert Hall on February 23rd 1978, with a choir of a thousand singers, entitled ‘The London Boy Singers And a Massed Choir of 1000’ who he had selected and coached, as well as many other children playing recorders and percussion, all from around 34 different schools; the performance was to be on behalf of Help the Aged. A few adult celebrities were also involved, including Ed Stewart, Ian Lavender, and Barney the Clown (‘Concert’s lost conductor’, The Guardian, 24/2/78; Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 287). An article from three years after his death (to which I will return below) mentioned that according to some press reports, police had intended to interview every one of these thousand boys (Ward, ‘The saving grace of worldliness’, p. 72).
What is clear is that, following an investigation by detectives in Hammersmith, Doggett was charged on February 8th, 1978 in West London Magistrate’s Court and remanded on bail of £1000 (on condition that he made no contact with any member of the choir or their parents), hours after which, in a depressed state, he travelled back to his birthplace of Iver, and lay down on a railroad track so as to be run over by a train (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67; Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5; ‘Sex case choirmaster killed on railway line’, Evening News, February 8th, 1978; ‘Sex-case death’, Daily Mirror, February 9th, 1978, p. 3; ‘Sex case man killed’, Daily Mail, February 9th, 1978, p. 9; ‘Concert’s lost conductor’, The Guardian, February 24th, 1978). Immediately after Doggett’s death, one unnamed friend was quoted as saying that he did not think Doggett ‘could face the shame of having the whole issue dragged through the courts’, whilst the Rev Kirwin, vicar at St Barnabas, described Doggett as ‘a friend for ten years’ who ‘was one of the kindest and most helpful persons I have known’ (‘Sex case choirmaster killed on railway line’)
Doggett had sent handwritten suicide notes to a few friends (one article claims there were four, including one to his father, one to an unnamed clergyman, one to Salisbury – ‘Sex case choirmaster killed on railway line’, Evening News, February 8th, 1978; another that there were two, to his sister and a clergyman – ‘Concert’s lost conductor’, The Guardian, February 24th, 1978), which were delivered a few days later (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67). One of these was to Rice, who received two envelopes, dated a week apart, upon returning from a trip to Australia, both from Doggett. The first was a plea for an opportunity to earn some royalties from work he continued to do with his boys’ choirs on Joseph; the second was the suicide note. Rice quotes part of it in his autobiography, and other sections were quoted in an article published eleven days after Doggett’s death:
I am sorry if any of you have been hurt or will be hurt by the events of the past few days. Do not grieve, do not feel remorse, do not feel ‘We should have done more’. (Anthony Holden, ‘Tragic end for the music man’, The Sunday Times, February 19th, 1978).
We all have to sail our own ship through life and this ship has capsized. No one could have helped, it was my destiny. Pray for me, my parents, family and friends. The way I have chosen, the way of the Greeks, though hard, is best. I am sorry I have not completely lived up to it. (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 400; section from ‘We all..’ to ‘…my destiny’, in Holden, ‘Tragic end’, above).
But remember me, please, for the good things, the happy times. The meals, the drink, the conversation, the good companionship. Remember the best bits in my character; there were, i hope, more pluses than minuses in the mixture. (Holden, ‘Tragic end’).
Rice, writing about the ‘Allegations of impropriety with young boys’ which ‘had apparently surfaced (not for the first time)’, whereupon ‘Alan had been arrested and charged’, leading to his suicide (ibid), wrote the following in his autobiography:
I say ‘not for the first time’ but I cannot believe that Alan was truly a danger, or even a minor menace, to the many boys he had worked with over the years. The only previous time in ten years that Andrew and I had come across such rumours concerning Alan, the allegations were proven to be exactly that, as the time and place of the supposed transgression clashed precisely with a recording date at which all three of us were continually present. It has been known for young boys, and more commonly their parents, to manufacture or exaggerate incidents when they know and (understandably) disapprove of a teacher’s inclinations. I am certainly not saying that this was the case with the circumstances that led to Alan’s awful end, or that Alan was squeaky clean throughout his musical dealings with his singers. However I suspect that there was a lot less to the cause of his tragedy than met the eye – just enough to render him incapable of facing the humiliation and shame that he knew he had brought upon himself. It was hard for me to believe that Alan, working with boys so closely for so many years, could have got away with any such behaviour for so long without being caught and hard to speak about him at his funeral, which I readily agreed to do. He played a crucial part in Andrew’s and my success, was an excellent choirmaster, and was never less than a highly amusing and generous companion. (Rice, Oh, What a Circus, p. 401)
Lloyd Webber and Rice themselves published a ‘Tribute’ in the Evening Standard a week after Doggett’s death (February 15th, 1978, p. 25), saying that ‘[w]e ourselves owe him a great deal’ (cited in Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 277).
In the next issue of Magpie, the following text appeared:
Dear Sir,
‘Letters’ is a most acceptable way for members to express their opinions. Usually I don’t, but this time I am so shocked and distressed as a paedophile, and lover of music, that I will sound off.
On February 9th the Director of the ‘London Boys Singers’ was a troubled man. He attended the Magistrate’s Court, accused of ‘Indecency’ with a 10 year old boy.
I know none of the facts of his story, but can well imagine the innocence with which this act of love and affection had taken place.
No doubt Mr. Doggett, considering his social position, found his contact with the law enforcement people to be unacceptable to him. He was bailed, pending trial. He went to a pub and talked a while, wrote some letters to friends and relatives and then threw himself under a train.
If this man chose death as a means of protecting his beliefs towards Paedophilia, I wonder how many of those, who consider the bloody futile laws of this land to be correct and proper, would be willing to support their theories with their life?
It is of the utmost importance that Paedophiles be permitted to express themselves without oppression. It is the ONLY way to be sure that tragedies of this nature will be averted in the future.
My most sincere condolences to the members of the London Boy Singers.
Your loss is total.
Paul Andrews. (Letters, Magpie, Issue No. 10 (no date), p. 4)
Andrews was a treasurer of the Paedophile Information Exchange, at least in September 1978, when his house was raided, together with those of chairman Tom O’Carroll, secretary David Grove, and a Mr Ralph Alden (Gerard Kemp, ‘Child sex leaders raided’, Sunday Express, June 18th, 1978); Andrews had retired from this position by November 1979. He appeared in court with O’Carroll and Grove on July 26th, 1979 at Bow Street Magistrate’s Court on a charge of ‘Conspiracy to Corrupt Public Morals’ (at least as reported in Pan: A Magazine of Boy Love, Vol. 1, No. 3 (November 1979), p. 6). It is not clear from the letter whether Andrews knew Doggett personally, but the tone of the letter suggests some familiarity with the case.
The February 23rd performance of Jason and the Golden Fleece at the Royal Albert Hall became a memorial concert for Doggett, also in aid of the organisation Help the Aged (‘The show that must go on’, News of the World, February 13th, 1978). Michael Stuckey, who had worked alongside Doggett for the 1972 productions of Joseph, took over the conducting (Walsh, Lloyd Webber, p. 67; Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, p. 151 n. 5; ‘Concert’s lost conductor’, The Guardian, February 24th, 1978; Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 285). The concert was reviewed enthusiastically and with some poignance by none other than Derek Jewell, who had been so important in bringing Joseph to the attention of a wider audience ten years previously (Derek Jewell, ‘Joy fills the Albert Hall’, The Sunday Times, February 26th, 1978). The work would also receive a further performance in 1979 at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, with an adult cast of around 25, and with Hugh Janes, who would later obtain the rights to the work, as narrator (Chandler, ‘Alan Doggett’, p. 285).
Another article appeared in Magpie in the following issue, this time from an anonymous contributor:
A letter in Magpie 10 reported and commented on the recent suicide of Alan Doggett three weeks before he was to conduct the London Boys Choir, together with massed choirs of other children at the Albert Hall. On the night of that concert the programme contained an insert describing Alan Doggett’s years of dedicated service and paying tribute to his friendliness, integrity and loyalty.
Shortly after this date a requiem mass was said for him at the Holy Cross Priory in Leicester by the Reverend Father Michael Ingram.
On Saturday 20th May a memorial service will be held to commemorate Alan’s life and work. It will start at 3 p.m. and will be held at St. Barnabas Church, Addison Road, London, W14, taking the form of a choral evensong, performed by the London Boys Choir.
These religious functions, one Roman, the other Anglican must be seen not only as ceremonies of intercession and remembrance, but also as containing an element of protest. It would seem to be true that in today’s society religious organisations provide almost the only vehicle whereby such a protest can be made. (‘Alan Doggett – Memorial Service’, Magpie, Issue No. 11, May 1978).
Father Michael Ingram, a Dominican priest, was himself a contributor to multiple issues of Magpie (see my other blogs for some examples of this), writing amongst other things about his supposed counselling of young boys over their sexual hang-ups and difficulties with their parents. He was found guilty in August 2000 of sexual offences, including one serious sexual offence, one offence of gross indecency, and four of indecent assault, against six boys committed between 1971 and 1978 (‘Former priest guilty of sex abuse’, The Tablet, August 19th, 2000, p. 26). A series of reports from the trial in the Leicester Mercury (from July 31st to August 15th, 2000, covering the course of the trial) detailed the awful events and traumatic experiences of Ingram’s victims as revealed in court, and how Ingram preyed upon those from under-privileged families and broken homes, some of them referred to him by social services. Ingram would also encourage boys to compete for his attentions and affection, especially on holiday trips. A letter to The Tablet in 2012 (Ingram had died in 2000) spoke of Ingram’s involvement with PIE, and also contribution to the book The Betrayal of Youth; Radical perspectives on childhood sexuality, intergenerational sex, and the social oppression of children and young people, edited Warren Middleton (London: CL Publications, 1986) (Middleton was a PIE Executive Committee member and former editor of Understanding Paedophilia – see my blog post here for samples from this publication), which featured many essays from individuals connected to PIE (and by feminist writer Beatrice Faust and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell – see here for a list of contents and quotes). Nurse was surprised that despite the openness with which Ingram expressed his views on the desirability of sexual relationships between adults and children, he was still ‘remained in active ministry and was permitted to work with vulnerable and disadvantaged children’ (Richard Scorer, ‘Turning a blind eye’, The Tablet, November 10th, 2012, pp. 18-19).
Over three years after Doggett’s death, an article in New Society looking back at his plight also bears consideration, and suggests the author knew Doggett and more about the situation than he is revealing. This author was Colin Ward (1924-2010), a writer for anarchist publications, noted for an important book The Child in the City (London: The Architectural Place, 1977) (for more details on Ward, see Ken Worpole, ‘Colin Ward obituary’, The Guardian, February 22nd, 2010). Ward’s article is worth quoting from in detail, and is quite shocking by contemporary standards:
Chaps in pubs and clubs nod sagely at the mention of schoolmasters, scoutmaster and choirmasters. We all know what motivates them. It’s a bit embarrassing, to say the least, for all those people in these occupations whose devoted service is untinged by sexual attraction, but the stereotype exists and is quite often true.
Every now and then someone breaks ranks and points out (as the therapist Dr Richard Hauser did, to the accompaniment of a chorus of parliamentary questions) that if there were some machine for screening out those with a sexual attraction towards children, the caring professions would lose their most valuable people).
But publicly we brush aside ordinary wordly truths taken for granted by the chaps in pubs and clubs, or, worse, treat them as sudden terrible revelations. The recent moral crusade against paedophiles in the United States has led to all sorts of worthy people abandoning their voluntary activities in the boy scouts or in the Big Brother organisation (of adult males befriending boys from fatherless families) for fear of being identified with them.
It is interesting to see that the homosexual lobby there is sufficiently self-assured to fight back and to defend in the courts the right of its own paedophile minority to be scout leaders or Big Brothers, just as it is encouraging to read that the city authorities in Amsterdam have allowed a known paedophile – with a prison sentence behind him – to adopt a troublesome 13 year old boy from a children’s home. To harness people’s wayward and personal predilections to a socially desirable end is a mark, not of irresponsibility, but of civilisation. (Paeophilia, it is worth repeating, means the attraction of men towards boys. It’s pederasty when it turns into sexual activity.)
[……..]If Lewis Carroll had been born 100 years later, he, with his delight in taking nude photographs of his little girl friends, would find himself in the dock at the Old Bailey, charged under the Protection of Children Act, 1978.
Consider the cases of two choirmasters. Years ago, a celebrated college director of music (now dead) appeared before a private university court following charges that he had molested a choirboy. He was reprimanded and went back to his honoured place at High Table and to his work with the choir he had made world-famous. Contrast his experience with that of Alan Doggett. If you know Doggett’s name it is because you saw it on the record sleeve of Evita, where he is described as musical coordinator, though he did not live to see the stage production. He was found dead on a railway line three years ago.
On the very day that the coroner pronounced a verdict of suicide, he was to have conducted at the Albert Hall, a charity performance of his “pop extravaganza,” Jason and the Golden Fleece, with a thousand schoolboy singers and instrumentalists. He was a music teacher who had commissioned from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, then in their teens, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as a school opera. Later he was their musical director for Jesus Christ, Superstar. In 1964 [probably an erroneous date] he had become the director of the London Boy Singers, an ensemble founded at the instigation of Benjamin Britten in 1961. Everyone in the musical world paid tribute to his immense energy and his inspired teaching.
The day after his death, friends received through the post a note from him which said, “We all have to sail our own ship through life, and this ship has now capsized. No one could have helped. It was my destiny.” On the day of his death, he had been committed for trial on a charge of committing an act of indecency with a minor. According to the press, the police had intended to interview each of the thousand boys in the Albert Hall production.
I know young men who were members of that choir and who remember Alan Doggett with immense gratitude and respect. I have myself a family of young musicians, who, if any unexpected extra-musical experiences came their way, were sensible enough to handle them in their own way and keep quiet about them.
What is absolutely appalling is the degree of retribution exacted by the community for minor indiscretions which have been going on, as we all know, since the days of the ancient Greeks. In common, I imagine, with many readers of this journal (though only Tailgunner Parkinson, who is always ready to stick his neck out, spoke up for him), I reacted with horror and unbelief at the two-year sentence passed on Tom O’Carroll, after a re-trial.
He was found guilty, you will recall, under one of those obsolete statues which have to be dug up on these occasions, of “corrupting public morals” by publishing the information bulletin of the Paedophile Information Exchange. There was no evidence that he had committed any offence against any child. (The only charge of this nature against him was withdrawn last month and he was awarded costs).
[….More on O’Carroll and Paedophilia: the radical case…. – this awful publication can be found complete online here]
Another court case, involving incest, followed by the murder of a father by his daughter, which was reported on the same day as the result of the PIE trial, presents the other side of the argument. Statistically, the commonest known form of child-adult sexual activity is father-daughter incest. The enormous publicity given to cases of the sexual murder of children shouldn’t blind us to the fact that such instances are no more typical of the paedophiliac scene than rape-and-murder is characteristic of ordinary sex.
Of the millions of grams of sexual fluids ejaculated every night, most are expended in socially harmless ways, and, in spite of Roman Catholic teaching, not many of them are involved in the reproduction of our race: something for which we should all be thankful. But are we really so worried if some boy in the summer camp is masturbating with the youth club leader, instead of by himself? Don’t we all know that the investigation of the offence is ten times as traumatic as the actual experience itself?
[….More on O’Carroll….]
What really touched me about his [O’Carroll’s] book was the way he quoted his glowing testimonials as a teacher. I am sure that he is a marvellous teacher and that this is a by-product of his sexual inclinations. But this has not saved him, or hundreds of other men like him, from the horrors of a jail sentence on this kind of charge. The Department of Education has a blacklist, which we aren’t entitled to see, on which his name must be underlined.
Yet if we delve into personal memories, we find that innumerable experiences with people like him, far from involving any kind of violence or painful physical penetration, have simply been an aspect of growing up. I can remember the fumbling fondlings of a PE teacher as flattering, rather than terrifying. My wife remembers the attentions of a beloved teacher as yet another initiation into the joys of sex.
Here, as in so many other aspects of social life, there is a fantastic gap between what we all know to be true and our accepted public attitudes. Something we can learn from those old gents in pubs and clubs is the saving grace of worldliness.
This is common of the type of language, rhetoric and ideological assumptions which permeate pro-paedophile discourse. It portrays paedophilia as natural amongst those in the teaching or caring professions, makes any other view out as being akin to a witch-hunt, advocates ‘keeping quiet’ as the only ‘sensible’ response on the part of children, attempts to legitimise the practice by reference to historical figures (and the ancient Greeks), appropriates gay liberation towards its own ends, evokes the cultured (in this case musical) aspects of paedophiles, justifies masturbation of minors, claims that to investigate such offences is worse than the offences themselves, and betrays a type of Stockholm syndrome when speaking of one’s own experiences of sexual abuse. And it is most telling that the only two names who Ward discusses in detail are Doggett and O’Carroll.
Various accounts of Doggett’s character help to complete the picture. Jonathan Mantle shows the awkwardness of ‘the prematurely balding Doggett with his thick black spectacles and his vulnerability to mockery’ which contrasted strongly with the ‘mop-haired, feminine looking youth whose facial hair seemed to be concentrated in a pair of thick, black eyebrows which rose and fell incessantly’ of Lloyd Webber (Mantle, Fanfare, p. 42). Mantle also writes:
Doggett was a split personality: outwardly a charming, witty man, a competent keyboard player and arranger and a highly successful architect of the Colet Court choir, but inwardly a nervy, intense homosexual of unhappy inclinations which would eventually destroy him. He had taken a shine to Andrew at an early age and became his self-appointed musical minder, making sure the young composer’s phenomenal aptitude for tunes was translated into music whose time signature always worked and bars added up correctly. (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 30-31)
He further suggests that Ian Hunter, whilst appreciating deeply what Doggett was able to do for the Colet Court choir, had ‘few illusions about the more volatile aspects of his personality’ (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 42-43); McKnight quotes Hunter as saying that Doggett ‘was not very brilliant musically’, but had a great ‘ability to communicate with kids’ (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, p. 86).
Gerald McKnight refers to Doggett as ‘a sad, pathetically mixed-up man in private life’, though ‘his passion for music endeared him to Dr and Mrs Lloyd Webber’, who the composers regularly ragged, using instructions such as ‘With un-Doggett-like expression!’ and ‘Doggett Mobbed!’ (McKnight, Lloyd Webber, pp. 85, 99).
Mantle points out however how central a part of Lloyd Webber’s social circle was Doggett (together with David Crewe-Read, Gray Watson, Bridget (Biddy) Hayward and Jamie Muir), whilst implying that Doggett’s place in this circle depended upon ‘past glories’; in his later work with Lloyd Webber, according to Mantle, he came to ‘ look more and more like a man who had been left behind’ (Mantle, Fanfare, pp. 117-118, 131).
The second Magpie article, with its reference to the two religious services ‘containing an element of protest’ and how ‘religious organisations provide almost the only vehicle whereby such a protest can be made’, is ominous, and suggests a deeper knowledge of Doggett and his activities. The inquest found that Doggett had only written two letters, which he had posted from Paddington Station on the evening he died – one to his sitter and the other to a clergyman (‘Concert’s lost conductor’, The Guardian, February 24th, 1978; this article dates the inquest as taking place three weeks previously, but this is impossible because of the date of Doggett’s death) (there was no mention of the letter to Rice). Who was the clergyman in question?
Otherwise, the article by Colin Ward, the fact of their having been two different pieces on Doggett in Magpie, and the fact that in all of these cases the language is quite typical of paedophile parlance (especially in PIE publications), combined with the various accounts of Doggett’s abuse of children in both 1968 and 1978, certainly indicate that more information is needed to establish the truth. Doggett was indeed a fully paid-up member of PIE; as many such members have been implicated in international child abuse and pornography networks, as well as rings of abusers, the implications are extremely disturbing for one who worked with such a range of children (I would estimate around 1500-2000 just for the period 1968-78, after Doggett left Colet Court).
Doggett’s story is tragic, and he undoubtedly needed help and support such as might have avoided involvement with the dark world of PIE instead. But the potential tragedy for many who worked with him, and how this all might supply further important information about the workings of PIE and its involvement with abuse networks, remains the important question today. At the time of David Chandler’s article in 2012, Ian Hunter was certainly still alive; others interviewed included Roger Ford (husband of the late Rita), and Julian Lloyd Webber. There were literally thousands of boys who studied with Doggett (who would be in their 50s and 60s at the time of writing), so many who could shed further light onto what exactly went on, not to mention the many other musicians who worked with him, and others mentioned in this article. I appeal to those who knew Doggett to help to establish further the truth about and extent of his activities once and for all.
Anyone wishing to speak under conditions of complete confidentiality is welcome to e-mail me at ian@ianpace.com , and I can give advice regarding what to do with any information.
Further on Alan Doggett – child prostitution and blaming victims at Colet Court School
Posted: March 28, 2014 Filed under: Abuse, Alan Doggett, PIE, Public Schools | Tags: alan doggett, andrew lloyd webber, colet court, dominic grieve, george osborne, ian hunter, jesus christ superstar, joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat, julian lloyd webber, music school abuse, st paul's school, tim rice 3 CommentsFollowing the reports by Andrew Norfolk in The Times this Tuesday on abuse at Colet Court and St Paul’s School, including by director of music Alan Doggett (see my blog post from earlier this week for details and links to the text of the Times articles) a new article (Andrew Norfolk, ‘Boys punished for telling of abuse by teacher’, The Times, March 28th, 2014 – behind a paywall – full text can be read here) reports many former pupils of the schools having contacted the paper after reading the first article. In particular, several have helped to provide further information about the activities of Doggett, as follows:
Several ex-pupils described Doggett’s routine “fondling” of boys in their beds. Three said they were abused by the choirmaster, who was conductor on the first recordings of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. Doggett resigned after his abuse was exposed in 1968, but it is understood that St Paul’s did not report the allegations to police or to education officials, which was required by law.
He went on to teach at City of London School and became director of an acclaimed choir before killing himself in 1978.
Stephen (his surname is withheld), the pupil who ended Doggett’s Colet Court career, said that he and a friend decided to speak to the school’s headmaster, Henry Collis, after Doggett indecently assaulted both 11-year-olds as they sat on each side of him during a televised football match in May 1968.
“It was the Manchester United v Benfica European Cup Final. We were sitting on the floor and Doggett’s hands were groping inside our pyjama bottoms.
“He wouldn’t leave us alone. He’d already had a go at me in the dormitory on quite a few occasions,” Stephen said. After the match, the two pupils decided that “he’s got to be stopped”. They informed Mr Collis, who was headmaster of Colet Court from 1957 to 1973 and served as chairman of the Independent Preparatory Schools Association.
Stephen said: “When I next went home on exeat that weekend, the school had telephoned my father to complain that I’d made up terrible stories about Doggett. Dad asked me what had been going on. When I told him, he said he believed me and I’d done the right thing in speaking out, but when I got back to the school the two of us were summoned to Mr Collis’s study.
“I can still see us standing in front of his desk on the Monday morning.He was furious. He said we were wicked for making up such awful lies. Mr Doggett was so appalled and embarrassed by the disgraceful things we’d said that he’d decided to leave the school. We should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. He gave us detention.”
Stephen said that another boy in their year suffered far worse crimes at Doggett’s hands: “He had one particular favourite who received regular visits in the dormitory at night. He’d abuse the poor boy without seeming to care that we could all see and watch what was happening.”
Other ex-pupils spoke this week of open gossip among the boys that “half a crown” was the “going rate for a session with Doggett”. One said that his year group even coined a new verb: to be “Doggoed” was to be groped and fondled.
Doggett’s resignation was one of several occasions when St Paul’s allegedly failed to inform police after concerns were raised about sexual misconduct by teachers. (Norfolk, ‘Boys punished for telling of abuse by teacher’)
In Norfolk’s article from earlier this week, the testimony of another boy, ‘Luke’, who had been abused by three teachers at the school before the age of 12, recalled how:
A far worse fate awaited another boy in his dormitory, a year younger than Luke, who was angelic in both voice and looks. He was Doggett’s chosen one, summoned far too often from their dormitory to spend long hours at night in the choirmaster’s bedroom. (Norfolk, ”The teacher sat us on his lap until his face went very red”).
The Manchester United/Benfica match in question was the 1968 European Cup Final, at Wembley Stadium, which took place on May 29th, 1968, thus just two-and-a-half weeks after the second performance of Joseph in Westminster Central Hall (detailed in my earlier account of Doggett’s life and activities – a revised version of this in light of the new information can also be read here). Eight weeks after this performance (thus in mid-July 1968), Doggett made the recording of Joseph for Decca at Abbey Road Studios, and in November of that year gave a further performance at St Paul’s Cathedral. Assuming that ‘Stephen’ made the complaint soon after the abuse during the cup final, this means that Doggett was continuing to conduct a choir of boys for recordings and performances after he had left Colet Court. More widely, this opens up the disturbing possibility, if not likelihood, that the choirs singing on the first recording of Joseph (and quite likely Jesus Christ Superstar as well) were being systematically abused at the time by their conductor.
Furthermore, if ‘half a crown’ was ‘the going rate for a session with Doggett’, then child prostitution of boys of ages around 10-12 was going on flagrantly at the school. And for Doggett would come into a dormitory and abuse a boy in front of the others is itself a form of abuse of all the boys in that dormitory.
There seems no little doubt to my mind that, if these allegations are true, that Colet Court and St Paul’s School were during this period a haven for serial abuse of boys below the puberty, sadistic punishment for sexual gratification of teachers, child prostitution, and intimidation and blaming of victims by the shameful headmaster, Henry Collis. This is a shameful history for any school, but alas it would seem as if Colet Court/St Paul’s were far from alone in many of these respects.
That these sorts of unspeakable things have remained hidden for so long is itself an outrage, but I hope that some can take consolation from the fact that the truth is finally able to come out, and their experiences be recognised.
Others who studied at these schools and now hold prominent positions – such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (who was after Doggett’s time, but may have known some of the other abusive teachers) and Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC (who studied at the school when Doggett was a teacher) – should themselves be demanding action and proper investigation into how such abuse could be allowed to happen. Tim Rice wrote the following in his autobiography:
The only previous time in ten years that Andrew and I had come across such rumours concerning Alan, the allegations were proven to be exactly that, as the time and place of the supposed transgression clashed precisely with a recording date at which all three of us were continually present. It has been known for young boys, and more commonly their parents, to manufacture or exaggerate incidents when they know and (understandably) disapprove of a teacher’s inclinations. (Tim Rice, Oh, What a Circus: The Autobiography (Coronet Books, 1999), p. 401).
It would be informative to hear what Rice’s thoughts are on these new allegations, also those of both Julian and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and of Ian Hunter, Doggett’s colleague and successor as Director of Music at the school (who later became Head himself). How much did anyone know about this abuse at the time?
I will update my long article on Doggett later to take account of this new information, and will continue to update it with any subsequent information which comes to light.
One thing is for sure: Colet Court and St Paul’s School need to do everything in their power to help and support the boys who suffered as a direct result of the school’s negligence and complicity, as does every other school where similar things occurred. If these means some must close, so be it.
Philip Pickett arrested on 15 charges, and interview with Clare Moreland in The Times
Posted: February 14, 2014 Filed under: Abuse, Chetham's, Higher Education, Music - General, Musical Education, Public Schools, Specialist Music Schools | Tags: chetham's, clare moreland, Guildhall School, music school abuse, Philip Pickett 8 CommentsOn Wednesday, February 12th, the following press release was made available by City of London police (copied here from the blog post on the subject on Slipped Disc):
Man charged over historic sex offences
City of London Police has today, Wednesday 12th February, charged a 63-year-old man with 15 historic offences, relating to nine separate victims.
These charges include eight counts of indecent assault, three counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment, one count of assault and one count of attempted rape.
Philip John Pickett, from Lyneham, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, a former freelance teacher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama is accused of,
Rape (contrary to section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st October 1977 and 30th November 1977.
Rape (contrary to section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st October 1977 and 30th April 1978.
Rape (contrary to section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st September 1978 and 30th September 1978.
Attempted rape (contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981), which occurred between 1st January 1988 and 30th January 1988.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1974 and 31st December 1974.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1974 and 31st December 1975.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st September 1978 and 30th September 1978.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1977 and 31st December 1979.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1980 and 31st December 1981.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1983 and 31st December 1984.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1988 and 31st December 1988.
Indecent assault (contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956), which occurred between 1st January 1988 and 31st December 1988.
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which occurred between 1st January 1971 and 31st December 1974.
False imprisonment which occurred between 1st October 1977 and 30th November 1977
False imprisonment which occurred between 1st January 1988 and 31st December 1988.
Mr Pickett, who was a freelance teacher at the school between 1972 and 1997, has been bailed to attend City Magistrates Court on 28th February.
Anyone with information that may assist with this investigation is encouraged to contact City of London Police on 020 7601 8177/8175 or via the 101 non emergency number, you can also email: investigation@cityoflondon.police.uk. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
As charges have been brought, I would request that no-one comment here upon this case until after a trial is over.
[UPDATE: A report in the Oxford Mail on Tuesday March 18th, 2014 indicates that Pickett’s trial has been postponed from October 2014 to January 2015 so that the musician can finish touring. Defence barrister Jonathan Barnard said at the Old Bailey ‘My client is a world famous musician and therefore earns his living on a job to job basis and has tours across the globe throughout the autumn – but the season slows down in the new year’. The Crown agreed on the grounds that ‘the allegations are at the latest 20 years old and the earliest, 40 years old’.
Once again, I request no comments upon the case until after the end of the trial.]
On another subject, for the first time since the Michael Brewer, Clare Moreland, head teacher at Chetham’s, agreed to be interviewed by Richard Morrison for The Times yesterday. Morrison himself wrote the following in April of last year:
As a teenager in the late 1960s and early ’70s I had four music teachers who shaped my life. Three were perverts – a not especially large percentage of paedophiles for a musical boy to encounter in that era. The first, the organist at the church where I was a choirboy, placed a clammy hand on his organ pupils’ thighs if they made pedalling mistakes – which was often in my case, since the clammy hand itself induced nervousness (as it was perhaps intended to do). The second, my piano teacher, a professor at a London conservatoire, regularly touched the breasts of both my sisters, who also studied with him. The third, my university tutor, liked to stand right behind male undergraduates as we struggled through keyboard harmony – then run his fingers through our hair.
Since all three are long dead I see no point in ‘outing’ them now. And at the time, msuical children – especially choirboys, or those in hothouse music schools – simply accepted this low-grade but continual molestation from teachers as par for the course. I must also say that each of my teachers was an outstanding musician. They taught me a lot, and their groping did no lasting harm. In that respect I was lucky.’ (Richard Morrison, ‘Music teaching’s dark past is in danger of destroying its future., BBC Music Magazine, April 2013, p. 25).
The interview in The Times (behind a paywall), contains the following passage:
In the eye of the storm has been Claire Moreland, the head teacher since 1999. On legal advice she has said nothing to the press since the crisis began. She broke her silence to talk to The Times. Looking pale, and with her voice often tremulous, she nevertheless defended vigorously the school’s actions over the past year.
When did she first know something was wrong? “I learnt about the possible police investigation of Mike Brewer in late 2011 and I was asked to keep that in confidence,” she replied. “The police came back to see me in 2012 and said they would be carrying out an investigation. As you know the Crown Court case started just over a year ago.” And when did it occur to her that this would be a much larger problem than just one isolated case? “It became increasingly apparent – given the context of the other cases of historic abuse recently come to public attention, the timing and outcome of the Brewer case, and the tragic suicide. We knew that this was bigger when we heard from the police that they were launching a much wider investigation.” (Richard Morrison, ‘Does Chetham’s have a future?’, The Times, 12/2/14).
But this does not appear to concur with a report published two weeks ago in The Independent:
In letters obtained by The Independent, a former Chetham’s pupil wrote to Mrs Moreland and said her “cries for help were met with disbelief”.
Mrs Moreland, who was not head teacher at the time the assaults were said to have occurred, replied in 2002. She said: “Legislation over the last two decades and an increasing awareness of issues surrounding teachers and students means that all schools these days are well-equipped to deal with any allegations.”
In 2002, Professor Gregson replied to another complainant, saying: “I do believe there is a more balanced view which, whilst not condoning [the teacher’s] past, does treat it in a more forgiving manner.”
In a reply to another woman, Mrs Moreland said in 2002: “We have excellent pastoral care systems at Chetham’s and naturally do our utmost to ensure that all the children in our care are extremely wel looked after at all times.”
Operation Kiso is currently looking at sex abuse allegations dating to as recently as 2006, however.
The investigation began after Michael Brewer, the former director of music at Chetham’s, was jailed for six years last March for indecently assaulting a pupil. His victim, Frances Andrade, killed herself after giving evidence against him at his trial, having been accused of lying during cross-examination.
Mrs Andrade had written to Professor Gregson in 2002 regarding sexual abuse claims. Professor Gregson accused her of writing an “emotive letter” that was “potentially libellous”. Mrs Moreland has insisted the sexual abuse allegations are “historic” and that child protection policies at Chetham’s have changed. (Paul Gallagher, ‘Elite music school Chetham’s loses pupils in backlash at allegations of historic sexual abuse’, The Independent, 28/1/14).
Nowhere in the Moreland interview is there any sign of concern for what former pupils might have suffered; the only concern seems to be to rejuvenate the reputation of the school. This attitude should be seen for what it is.
New stories and convictions of abuse in musical education, and the film of the Institute of Ideas debate
Posted: January 11, 2014 Filed under: Abuse, Chetham's, Higher Education, Music - General, Musical Education, Specialist Music Schools | Tags: ABRSM, chris ling, Clare Fox, Duncan McTier, Frank Furedi, Guildhall School, Heather Piper, Hervey Alan, ian lake, Institute of Ideas, Janet Rittermann, King Edward's School, lucy powell, Malcolm Layfield, Michael Crombie, music school abuse, Nichoals Smith, Operation Yewtree, paul gallagher, Philip Evans, Philip Pickett, Robin Zebaida, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Susan Hallam, tim loughton, Wen Zhou Li 9 CommentsIn the last few weeks a series of new stories have come out relating to abuse in musical education. One of those was about the pianist and composer Ian Lake, who taught at Watford School of Music and the Royal College of Music (RCM), had received a little-reported conviction of a sexual offence (of which details remain hazy) in 1995, but was revealed to be a serial abuser; I wrote about the Lake story here. One of the victims spoke of how she went to the then-principal of the RCM, Michael Gough Matthews (who was Principal from 1985 to 1993, and who died last year), and whilst she was given a change of teacher, nothing else happened, so Lake was free to do the same to others. This type of process has been described by multiple victims at different institutions (including, for example, victims of Ryszard Bakst at the Royal Northern College of Music). Matthews’ successor as Principal, Dame Janet Ritterman, who was Principal at the RCM at the time when Lake was convicted (and is now Chancellor of Middlesex University), has been contacted for comment about what was known about Lake, but has declined to respond. One victim was very keen to make clear how safe and relieved she felt after speaking to the journalist Paul Gallagher, and has posted to that effect under another name as a comment under my blog post on Lake.
An article in today’s Independent names another late teacher at the RCM, Hervey Alan, as having attempted a sexual assault on a student; again, when she complained, she received a change of teacher, but no further action was taken. Furthermore, the victim (who was also a student of Lake’s on the piano) underwent a second attempted assault from a college porter, about which nothing was done after she complained. This woman has also detailed the ways in which not being prepared to respond to sexual advances in the professional world could hinder one’s career, a story which is all too familiar, and needs to be considered seriously alongside all the other dimensions to this issue. I have argued for a while that the granting of unchecked power to prominent musicians, administrators, and fixers almost invites the corruption of such power, and more, rather than less, state intervention is needed to ensure that proper employment practices are observed in a freelance world. Many musicians would hate this, for sure, and claim it represented an unwarranted intrusion by government into a field which should be driven by ‘purely musical’ concerns, but in my view the latter serve as a smokescreen for cynical and callous power games.
Several other stories have come to light recently. Robin Zebaida, pianist and examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM, responsible for the ‘grade’ exams that many young musicians take) since 1998, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year old girl at the same time as he was seducing her mother; Zebaida received a two-year conditional discharge, was made to sign the sex offenders register for two years, and pay a £15 victim surcharge. The trial heard of romantic evenings with plentiful alcohol with Zebaida kissing the mother whilst groping the daughter; Zebaida would also claim he touched the daughter lightly on account of back problems she suffered following a car crash which had killed her father and brother. (see reports here, here and here; and also ‘Pianist guilty of sex assault on teenager’, The Daily Telegraph, 3/12/13 – not available online). I am not aware of the ABRSM having made any comment.
In November, Philip Evans, music teacher at the private King Edward’s School, Edgbaston, Birmingham (which dates from 1552 and was set up by Edward VI), pleaded guilty to seven sexual assaults, ten charges of making indecent photographs of children, and six counts of voyeurism; more than 400 000 indecent images were found on his computer (Press Association, ‘Teacher Admits Sexual Assault, 28/11/13). The trial found that Evans, who had also acted as an RAF ‘leader’ in the school’s Combined Cadet Force, had abused teenage boys whilst pretending to measure them for their school uniforms, and installed high tech equipment in changing rooms and showers to film pupils. Evans was sentenced in December to three years and eight months imprisonment (see reports here, here – and here).
A further case was overshadowed by the Michael Brewer trial last year; that of music teacher at various East London schools and choirmaster Michael Crombie. Crombie had first gone on trial in November 2010, then aged 73, on 28 charges of indecent assault upon nine girls aged under 16 and child pornography offences from between 1992 and 2002. The court heard that Crombie had forced young girls to strip and duck their heads in a fish tank, then he would video them. He told one girl aged between 10 and 12 that this technique, ‘bubbling’, would help improve her recorder playing. The court saw a video of a young girl with her wrists and legs bound with his tie, trying to break free and gasping for air before being pushed back into the water. Crombie would also take girls on his lap and molest them under the pretext of helping them with breathing exercises. The court heard that victims were unable to complain because of Crombie’s eminence (he was also a Rotary Club member). He was found guilty of 26 of the charges and jailed for seven years, as well as being ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life, and banned from unsupervised contact with children (see here, and here; also ‘Teacher ‘filmed pupils in his bath’’, Metro, 18/11/10, Fiona Hamilton, ‘Music teacher abused girls during lessons’, The Times, 27/11/10, Mike Sullivan, ‘Perv Sir’s ‘drown’ sessions’, The Sun, 27/11/10, not available online).
In December 2012, Crombie admitted 47 further counts of indecent assaults upon children between 1964 and 1993, and two counts of sexual activity with a child; these included 16 cases which took place at Beal Grammar School and Wanstead High School when Crombie was a teacher there; most of the others occurred when he worked as a private music tutor between 1991 and 2002. 30 new victims, aged between 11 and 17 at the time of the offences, had come forward, after one had been outraged by Crombie’s asking her to act as a character reference during his previous trial in 2010. She described how he would regularly kiss her, ask her to turn up to lessons naked, and imagine how she would feel if he were to rape her, leading to her running out screaming. Another said he told her whilst groping and kissing ‘if you sing the notes right this wouldn’t be happening’. Crombie had had a sexual fling with a 14-year old girl to who he was teaching bassoon at Beal Grammar School, her parents ultimately trusting him to babysit her at home. He would persuade her to perform sex acts upon him in the school’s music room cupboard and also while he was driving. In January 2013, Crombie received a seven-year jail sentence, his earlier sentence having been reduced to five on appeal, so that he had been due for release in May 2013. The judge sharply criticised the school authorities for allowing Crombie to carry on unchallenged for 30 years, noting that complaints had been made to the school on a number of occasion, but no adequate action had been taken (see here, here, and here; also Press Association, ‘Ex-Music Teacher admits Sex Attacks’, 21/12/12; Press Association, ‘Judge criticises School Authorities’, 25/1/13).
An independent inquiry was launched by the Local Safeguarding Childen’s Board at Redbridge, considering which safeguarding systems and processes were in place during the period of Crombie’s serial abuse; this does not appear to have been completed yet (‘Independent inquiry launched into Redbridge music teacher’s abuse of young girls since the 1960s’, Ilford Recorder, 31/1/13).
Following the first conviction, Norman Lebrecht wrote:
And then ask why it always has to be music teachers, and why so often in Britain. Is it because music, like sport, has tactile teaching elements that attract perverts? Or does music grant a license to perverts to act out their fantasies?
I have no statistics to hand, but it’s Don Giovanni to a string quartet that there are ten times as many music teachers who are caught molesting pupils as chemistry or geography beaks. Now why is that? Does music, in some obscure way, attract sadists and corrupters?
Now Greater Manchester Police have made clear that they are considering extradition proceedings against former Chetham’s teacher Chris Ling, about whom multiple accusations of child abuse were made public in February 2013 (see the reports in The Guardian here,here, here, and here. An earlier investigation in 1990, after Ling had left the UK for the US, was dropped, then reopened in 2013, as part of Operation Kiso. Ling had indicated that he might return to the UK for questioning, but never came back. Three other current or former Chetham’s teachers – violin teachers Wen Zhou Li and Malcolm Layfield and conducting teacher Nicholas Smith – and one from the RNCM – double bassist Duncan McTier (now a professor at the Royal Academy of Music) – have all been arrested and the Crown Prosecution Service are currently considering whether to bring charges or rape and/or sexual assault against them
(here, here, and here. Also, The Independent named leading early music director Philip Pickett as the former Guildhall School tutor who has been arrested on multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.
Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central, whose constituency includes both Chetham’s and the RNCM, and also Shadow Spokesperson for Childcare, has made clear her support either for a special inquiry into abuse in musical education as part of Operation Yewtree, or a separate public inquiry. Various other MPs have expressed their support, not least former Children’s Minister, Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who tweeted on January 6th ‘Calls for single overarching enquiry into historic child abuse post Savile louder than ever-I’ve asked the PM twice now, will try again’ (@timloughton).
There are so many more cases past and present of which I have been made aware, and cannot share for reasons of confidentiality; and only a small minority take the related issues of widespread bullying, psychological and emotional abuse in both music education and the music profession seriously (see my previous post inviting people to come forward and talk about this subject). If more people knew the extent of this, they would see the necessity of pushing, and not stopping pushing, for action. Hopefully some of the recent revelations may impress on more the seriousness. I have very good reason to believe that these issues are far from merely historic, and that in various institutions abuse may be continuing to this day, and even that some abusers may be using distant foreign trips connected to musical education for this purpose.
One place where a majority of the participants certainly thought otherwise was the Institute of Ideas debate at the Barbican Centre in October 2013, about which I earlier blogged here. The full debate can now be viewed online here – I invite people to watch it and see the rather contemptuous way in which the issues is treated in particular by panellists Heather Piper, Frank Furedi and chair Clare Fox. With the exception primarily of the important contribution by Professor of Education and Music Psychology Susan Hallam, most of the contributions from the panel and indeed from the floor (with the exception of rather angry responses by myself and another former Chetham’s pupil) seem most concerned about any disruption or change to the situation for music teachers, how it would be so terrible for there to be limits on physical contact, how the important thing is about how music ‘touches the soul’, and so on. I felt quite sick after this debate, and the way it was cynically engineered so as to trivialise the whole issue. The rot at the heart of the classical music world needs to be addressed properly as a matter of urgency, however much some will sneer, minimise or dismiss the issue, shy away from things or protect others in the interests of furthering their own career.
Desiring Progress 