Shanghai-born Chetham violin teacher cleared of raping pupil
Three years after being arrested on suspicion of sex crimes committed against a 13-year-old pupil at Chetham’s School of Music, Li Wen Zhou was found not guilty after the prosecution formally offered no evidence against him
An acclaimed violin teacher accused of raping one of his teenage pupils at a prestigious music school in Manchester will not face trial after the prosecution against him was dropped.
Three years after being arrested on suspicion of sex crimes committed against a 13-year-old pupil at Chetham’s School of Music, Li Wen Zhou was found not guilty after the prosecution formally offered no evidence against him. In a hearing on 18 March, the judge, Mr Justice Henshall, said Li could walk free “without a stain on his character”, according to his lawyers.
His victim, Frances Andrade, killed herself after giving evidence against him and did not see him found guilty of indecently assaulting her. After her suicide, dozens of former pupils contacted The Guardian to make allegations of sex abuse against other teachers at both schools, some still alive and others long dead.
Greater Manchester police (GMP) then began Operation Kiso, which eventually led to three further teachers being charged with sex crimes against students at the two music schools. In September 2014 conductor Nicholas Smith was sentenced to eight months in prison after admitting sexually assaulting a 15-year-old pupil in the 1970s.
Two months later, world-renowned double bassist Duncan McTier pleaded guilty to sexual assaults two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault against young women from the RNCM and Purcell school in Hertfordshire in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Last June Malcolm Layfield, former head of strings at the RNCM, was found not guilty of raping one of his charges, when she was 18.