10 May 2013

Second arrest in music schools sexual abuse investigation

One of the world’s most revered double bass players is arrested at his home in London, the second arrest by police investigating allegations of sexual abuse at Britain’s musical schools.


Police have confirmed that Duncan McTier, 58, currently professor of double bass at London’s Royal Academy of Music, has been arrested and questioned on suspicion of indecent assault.

The offence is understood to relate to an alleged indecent assault of a 21-year-old woman in 1994, when she was a pupil at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, one of the schools at the centre of a police investigation.

Second arrest

The arrest is the second in Operation Kiso, an investigation into abuse in schools, triggered in the wake of the fall-out from a sex abuse trial involving Chetham, a £30,000 a year boarding school in Manchester.

In February violin teacher Wen Zhou Li was arrested on suspicion of rape. He denies the allegations but has been suspended from ths school pending a police investigation.

Wider investigations

But police investigations were widened following a Channel 4 News programme broadcast on Tuesday that implicated three other music schools amid allegations of sexual abuse dating back four decades.

They include Yehudi Menuhin School, where it is alleged that one former musical director, Marcel Gazelle, sexually abused young girls – allegations that his family vociferously deny. On Tuesday evening Surrey police confirmed that they were investigating the allegations in the wake of the programme.

Police have now spoken to more than 30 individuals who have reported historic sexual abuse in numerous schools with police focusing on “a pool of about 10 offenders”.

The allegations follow the high-profile sex abuse trial earlier this year of Chetham’s former music director Michael Brewer.

Brewer was jailed for six years in March 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.

Chetham’s said it was aware police were investigating 39 individuals, but did not believe all of them taught at either Chetham’s or the RNCM.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “We would like to reassure parents that while the recent media reports reflect a greater level of detail about the investigations, they do not contain any developments concerning Chetham’s that we were not already aware of.

“We continue to offer the police our assistance with their inquiries.”