39 teachers at top music schools face abuse probe

Guardian News and Media/London

Ten of the tutors have been classed as “key suspects” and are the most likely to face trial for a range of sexual offences including rape and serious, habitual indecent assaults.

All of these 10 are alive and have taught at Chetham’s school of music, a £31,000-a-year boarding school in the city centre, and/or the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

Some are still teaching music today.

The bulk of the offences are alleged to have taken place in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, though one is said to have occurred as late as 2010.

So far the only suspect named by police is violin teacher Wen Zhou Li, who was arrested on suspicion of rape in February. Li denies the allegations but has been suspended from Chetham’s and the RNCM pending the police investigation.

“There are 10 individuals who we are proactively conducting criminal investigations into, and many others who are also part of the inquiry,” said Jamie Daniels, detective chief inspector of the major incident team in the specialist protective services division of Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

Daniels confirmed that, in total, 39 teachers past and present are being investigated by his full-time team of 22 staff. Officers have already interviewed more than 30 alleged victims and have received information relating to dozens more.

They are currently preparing reports to hand to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide if there is enough evidence to prosecute. The investigation is expected to last at least a year.

It began in February following the conviction of Michael Brewer, former head of music at Chetham’s, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting a pupil, Frances Andrade. She killed herself after giving evidence against him, emboldening other alleged victims to speak out in the hope that her death would not be in vain.

Brewer is not one of 10 key suspects. “Of those 10, three or four have been accused of rape or indecent assault by multiple victims,” Daniels confirmed. He said a further five teachers would have likely stood trial had they not already died.

One of the dead abusers has already been named by the Guardian as Polish-born pianist Ryszard Bakst, who died in 1999. A number of his former pupils spoke out about how he would touch them as they played.

“We are also investigating 12 other music teachers as a result of third-party referrals - decent members of the public phoning in, saying ‘so-and-so had a relationship with so-and-so when I was at school’,” said Daniels, stressing that police need first-hand victim accounts if they are to press charges.

 A further 12 teachers have been accused of inappropriate behaviour that will probably not lead to criminal charges, said Daniels - for example, in cases that are too old to prosecute or where the sexual activity was not illegal at the time it took place.

This includes instances where teachers are said to have had sex with sixth-formers who were under 18 but over the age of consent. This only became a criminal offence in 2003.

The GMP inquiry, named Operation Kiso, has also broadened to investigate incidents at other specialist music schools in the UK, including the Purcell school in Hertfordshire, the Yehudi Menuhin school in Surrey, Wells Cathedral school in Somerset and St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh.

Police believe some of the alleged abusers moved from one school to another, sometimes after their inappropriate behaviour had been discovered.