Queen's choirmaster guilty

13 April 2012

The Queen's former choirmaster was today convicted of a string of indecent assaults on children up to 30 years ago.

Jonathan Rees-Williams, 55, who quit his post as organist and master of the choristers at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 2002, molested a series of children over a 14-year period from the mid-1970s.

Rees-Williams, of Bristol, abused his young victims in a cathedral organ loft, a church undercroft, his home, while travelling on coaches and even on a train, Reading Crown Court heard. None of the assaults related to his time at Windsor.

Five men and one woman, all now adults, came forward to relive their childhood abuse.

One victim told the court that Rees-Williams had molested him as a child of 9 or 10 while he was having an acute asthma attack.

Rees-Williams admitted five counts of indecent assault involving two boys but denied a further 10 counts, also involving male victims as well three charges involving a girl.

But the jury took just four hours 35 minutes to reach unanimous verdicts on all remaining charges.

Rees-Williams accepted he had carried out a string of attacks on one 13-year-old boy.

But he claimed it was the boy who had initiated the sexual contact and that he had felt "trapped", continuing to be involved fearing that the boy would tell someone if he did not.

But prosecutor John Price told the jury that the claim was a "travesty" and an "exercise in role-reversal".

Rees-Williams also admitted an indecent incident with a second victim who was 13 years old at the time.

Following the completion of the trial today it was revealed that police had also found 127 indecent images of children on Rees-Williams's two computers.

After the jury had returned its guilty verdicts in relation to the indecent assaults Rees-Williams entered a guilty plea to one charge of possessing indecent images of children.

The trial was adjourned to July 26 for sentencing.

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