Paedophile
music tutor
stripped 
of his OBE

A former music director at the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester who was jailed for six years after being uncovered as a “predatory sex offender” has been stripped of his OBE.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th May 2013, 01:01 BST

Michael Brewer was jailed in March. His victims included ex-pupil Frances Andrade, 48, whom he groomed for sex from the age of 14 and who took her life at her home in Guildford, Surrey, during his trial.

Confirmation his OBE was forfeited came yesterday in a statement published on the website of The London Gazette which 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.”

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Honours can be taken away from people who have done something to damage the honours system’s reputation – if they are sentenced to prison for at least three months for a criminal offence or censured or struck off by a professional or regulatory body for something directly relevant to their honour.

The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers the case, and if it recommends an honour is withdrawn, the decision is sent to the Queen who decides if it should be forfeited.

Brewer, who was awarded an OBE for services to music in 1995, resigned as music director at Chetham’s at the end of 1994 after his affair with a 17-year-old student was uncovered.

He was found guilty of indecently assaulting ex-pupil Frances Andrade more than 30 years ago when she was 14 and 15.

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Mrs Andrade killed herself a week after giving evidence against him.

Others were a 17-year-old student at Chetham’s who Brewer fondled in his office and admitted in court that he fell in love with at the age of 49, while another 17-year-old was pinned up against a wall during a school trip and sexually propositioned.

When it ended, a number of former pupils made allegations against other staff members.

Ten key suspects have been identified in the wide-ranging inquiry called Operation Kiso which is also looking at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

Those suspects either taught at Chetham’s, the RNCM or privately.

Related topics:ManchesterQueen