Ex teacher sentenced to four years
A RENOWNED classical conductor who invited young musicians to his home so he could sexually abuse them has been jailed.
Robert King, 46, was convicted of 14 counts of indecent assault over an 11-year period on Monday at Isleworth Crown Court.
The court heard that he had earned the trust of young boys and their parents who he met at music concerts - and would invite the boys to his Ealing home for professional advice.
He molested five boys, one of whom was 12 years old.
He gave the majority of his victims alcohol before he abused them at his home, either while they slept or at bath time.
King taught at one of West London's leading public schools for boys. Ealing Today has been contacted by a number of people who remembered him from that time. "It was well known that Mr King had tried to get boys drunk on orchestra trips (to Europe mainly) and even got into bed with one before being told where to go," said his former pupil.
King was sentenced to three years, nine months by Judge Hezlett Colgan. He was told that he had committed a "gross breach of trust".
However, although King will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, he will not be banned from working with children. Judge Colgan said that this was because his life had changed radically since the offences, as he is now married with children.
King has worked on film scores and music for the BBC, including The Chronicles of Narnia and Pirates of the Caribbean. Over the years he has toured the world with several orchestras.
King protested that all of his accusers were "absolute" liars, but Sarah Whitehouse, prosecuting, told the jury: "It flies in the face of reason that five people should independently make these allegations up."
Detective Constable Emma MacDonald, from Ealing Police child abuse investigation team, said: "The conviction of King is testimony to the strength of character shown by his victims to come forward and confront what he did to them. "The victims speak of the detrimental effect King's action had and, in some cases, continues to have on them."
The court heard how two more victims of King's abuse came forward after the case was publicised in local and national press in June 2006.
June 15, 2007
|