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29/05/2013
Sex Abuse Choirmaster Loses OBE
A choirmaster who was convicted of indecently assaulting one of his pupils has been stripped of his OBE status.
Michael Brewer, 68, was the music director at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and in the 1970s and 1980s was said to have groomed pupil Frances Andrade at the school. She was 14 when the abuse started.
In March this year, Brewer was convicted of five counts of indecently assaulting Ms Andrade and sentenced to six years in jail at Manchester Crown Court. His ex-wife Hilary Brewer, 68, was jailed for 21 months for indecently assaulting Mrs Andrade.
In the London Gazette, a statement read: "The Queen has directed that the appointment of Michael Curtis Brewer to be an Officer of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 31 December 1994, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order."
The news of the annulled OBE came just hours before it was revealed the former choirmaster is to appeal against the length of his prison sentence.
An application to seek permission to appeal will be discussed at the Court of Appeal on 12 June when the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with two other judges, will consider Brewer's application.
Brewer's victim, Ms Andrade, 48, committed suicide during the trial earlier this year. In a statement released after her death, her son Oliver said that repeatedly being called "a liar and a fantasist" during the trial had been "more than she could bear".
(JP/IT)
Michael Brewer, 68, was the music director at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and in the 1970s and 1980s was said to have groomed pupil Frances Andrade at the school. She was 14 when the abuse started.
In March this year, Brewer was convicted of five counts of indecently assaulting Ms Andrade and sentenced to six years in jail at Manchester Crown Court. His ex-wife Hilary Brewer, 68, was jailed for 21 months for indecently assaulting Mrs Andrade.
In the London Gazette, a statement read: "The Queen has directed that the appointment of Michael Curtis Brewer to be an Officer of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 31 December 1994, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order."
The news of the annulled OBE came just hours before it was revealed the former choirmaster is to appeal against the length of his prison sentence.
An application to seek permission to appeal will be discussed at the Court of Appeal on 12 June when the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with two other judges, will consider Brewer's application.
Brewer's victim, Ms Andrade, 48, committed suicide during the trial earlier this year. In a statement released after her death, her son Oliver said that repeatedly being called "a liar and a fantasist" during the trial had been "more than she could bear".
(JP/IT)
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