Violin teacher 'used power to rape'

A violin teacher in the UK improperly used his “power and influence” to rape an 18-year-old female student, a jury has heard.

Malcolm Layfield, 63, is said to have committed the offence in the back of his car during a trip to Cornwall after he plied his alleged victim with alcohol.

Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told it was a case about “abuse of power” in the early 1980s by the defendant who worked at the “world renowned” Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, both in Manchester.

Prosecutor Peter Cadwallader said: “He was a fine teacher with power and influence. He taught highly gifted students, many of whom had ambitions to go with their talent.

“It is alleged, in short, that he used his power and influence improperly.

“He admits that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of female students.

“The complainant in this case was one such student.”

He told the jury that the pair did have a consensual sexual relationship which lasted for about six weeks but that the first occasion they had sex was rape.

Mr Cadwallader said: “For the ambitious student, her violin teacher was critical.

“Not only for her progress at those two institutions, Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, but also for his influence on her future music career.

“We suggest that he used that power and influence in an improper and inappropriate way, in essence, to obtain sex.”

Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, Manchester, denies rape.

The jury was played a video of the police interview with the complainant.

She said she had studied at Chetham’s from the age of 14 where supervision was “woefully inadequate” and students were allowed to “run riot”.

She told a detective: “Malcolm went out of his way to cultivate a relationship where he was the mentor, the father figure.

“He always wanted to know what everyone was doing ... inappropriate conversations. He wanted to be extra-friendly.”

She said he bought alcohol in the pub for under-age students on a previous school trip.

During the Cornwall trip, she said, he confided in her that he was cheating on his wife with a woman in London.

Recalling the alleged rape, she said: “There was no violence but he was using his strength.

“I suppose I just gave in and I have hated myself for that ever since. In some ways I was protecting him ... how could he do that to someone? He clearly had no respect for women. He clearly targets women. I was a target.

“He knew he was going to do this. I couldn’t deal with it.”

She said she went on to have sex with him in the back of his car in disused areas after lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

The complainant said Layfield initiated sex with her on one occasion at his former home in Didsbury while his wife and children were in the house.

She said: “I was just going along with it. I didn’t want it. I didn’t fancy him.

“I was just not equipped to deal with it.

“He called them affairs. It was not an affair for me. There was no romance. It was just him abusing his power to get sex.”

She said he later told her that if she changed teachers at the college he would take all her freelance work away from her.

“Again, I was under his influence,” she said. “I really thought he was going to do that.

“He was a real bully as well. He was only interested in his own career and getting on in the music business.”

She said she would cry during lessons with him before the relationship eventually fizzled out.

The complainant said her memories of the alleged incident were later “triggered” when Layfield was appointed head of strings at the college, which she found “absolutely disgraceful”.

She said she rang Professor Edward Gregson, then principal of the RNCM, but said she got the impression that unless she was prepared to “cry rape” and go to court then Layfield would not have the job taken away from him.

The complainant said she felt “fobbed off” and she was not prepared to take it any further legally at that stage.

Asked by the interviewing officer how the alleged rape affected her life, she replied: “I never like being a victim. I am not that sort of person.

“I really hate him. I have spent far too long thinking about it. What I really, really want is closure.”

The trial continues tomorrow when the complainant will give evidence.