Philip Pickett sentenced to 11 years imprisonment

[Barbirollians]

How depressing it is . Here we have another senior musician convicted of serious sexual offences - Pickett was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for rape and indecent assault on three women at Guildhall between 1979 and 1983 this morning. He deliberately lured them into soundproof music rooms so that nobody could hear any cries for help .

One fears that there might be more to come although some against whom allegations were made like Maurice Gendron are dead .

The classical music world seems terribly forgiving however as seen by the fawning over records made by Robert King since his release on Radio 3 without any reference to his offending - that would be simply unthinkable in other parts of the arts .

[kuligin]

I think it is unfair to treat Pickett and King's offenses as similar.

Pickett was convicted of the most serious sexual crimes, rape, while King's offenses were as I recall consensual acts with teenagers occuring many years ago when he was in his early twenties and for which he has since shown remorse.

I am not defending Kings actions but the two cases are of a different order and rightly recived totally different sentences.

I can not see Pickett ever conducting again

[Honoured Guest]

... King's offenses were as I recall consensual acts with teenagers ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6720213.stm

Three were under 16, one of them 12 years old. Legally, no "consent".

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

sexual harassment at the BBC

[kuligin]

I stand corrected, King's offenses are far more serious and his sentence longer than I recalled, I should have checked.

[Barbirollians]

I stand corrected, King's offenses are far more serious and his sentence longer than I recalled, I should have checked.

Indeed and I think , and I mean from a legal viewpoint , that his sentence was pretty lenient .Quite a few judges would have handed out six years .

[ahinton]

This case is far from being an isolated one. Ever since the sad suicide of Frances Andrade brought forth widespread allegations of abuse in specialist music schools and colleges, the Savile case led to revelations of alleged abuse within many other institutions (such as NHS, care homes, the Church et al) and the resultant so far twice restarted public inquiry into such issues has begun to consider its massive and long-standing remit, the issue of the abuse of minors has come into public focus to such an extent that some cynics are even beginning to express puzzlement in cases where no such abuse ever appears to have been committed.

It has been suggested tht the inquiry will supposedly be over by 2018, yet for the sheer fatuous improbability of so short a term one has only to consider that, whereas the Chilcot inquiry was launched more than six years ago and covers only the actions of MOD and the armed services in the Iraq war that began only six years before that and is still nowhere near completion, the remit of this one is claimed (at least by the Daily Mail - see - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...artbreaks.html) to go back to 1945 or even earlier and will of necessity cover alleged institutional abuse throughout UK; I cannot foresee it arriving at anything remotely close to completion during the lifetime of its thirdf-time-lucky (hopefully) Chair if it is to be conducted at all times with the due diligence and thoroughness necessary to generate all the conclusions to which it finally needs to come. Indeed, the article adds that
"The Mail on Sunday understands that Justice Goddard is backed by Mrs May, who is considering removing all time limits, meaning it could take in the entire 20th Century. Either way, it will be the world's biggest ever investigation into paedophiles – and will take years"
If it does indeed end up having no time limits at all, it will surely require many decades and might not even be over at the end of the present century, not least because the farther back the alleged abuses took place, the longer and harder it will be to unearth all necessary evidence for full investigation.

[Nick Armstrong]

... what a falling off was there!

From this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Branden...rt+brandenburg ... and the Pilgrimage to Santiago... and the Telemann Water Music... and the Feast of Fools... all of which are in my collection, I think


to that...

[Dave2002]

If it does indeed end up having no time limits at all, it will surely require many decades and might not even be over at the end of the present century, not least because the farther back the alleged abuses took place, the longer and harder it will be to unearth all necessary evidence for full investigation.

I don't think many miscreants from the 20th Century will be alive by the end of this one, so a thorough investigation would perhaps only be of academic interest, similar to Lord Lucan and Jack the Ripper - though for different types of crime.

However, there is the possibility that new or more recent crimes would be easier to check up on - though I have no knowledge of that or methods for detection. Modern forensic science may be capable of checking out more possibilities, and the use of modern database and surveillance techniques may also have an impact. However, the problems may also have changed in nature, so there is no guarantee that detection and conviction rates will be higher, or that behaviours will change in such a way that fewer crimes will be committed.

[ahinton]

I don't think many miscreants from the 20th Century will be alive by the end of this one, so a thorough investigation would perhaps only be of academic interest, similar to Lord Lucan and Jack the Ripper - though for different types of crime.

Whilst that is obviously true, as the investigations will presumably include alleged offences committed by people who have died only relatively recently and also even by those who might die between now and when they're investigated, there's no ruling out of alleged offenders from the inquiry's remit just because they happen to be dead by the time their alleged offences come up for scrutiny. As with war crimes, people in their 90s might find themselves in the spotlight for alleged crimes even though the crimes themselves might have been committed many years earlier, as has already been shown by the Savile, Harris, Brewer and many other serial abuser cases.

[Petrushka]

sexual harassment at the BBC

What a thoroughly, nasty, despicable piece of journalism this is. What point is served by denigrating the memories of these two giants of broadcasting history who are in no position to defend themselves because they are long dead? Passing judgement on matters as they stood in the 1970s to the way they would be considered today is a pointless exercise in peddling tittle-tattle and malicious gossip that does no-one any good.

What this is doing in a thread about the much more sinister and evil goings on re Pickett is something of a mystery.

[Serial_Apologist]

What a thoroughly, nasty, despicable piece of journalism this is. What point is served by denigrating the memories of these two giants of broadcasting history who are in no position to defend themselves because they are long dead? Passing judgement on matters as they stood in the 1970s to the way they would be considered today is a pointless exercise in peddling tittle-tattle and malicious gossip that does no-one any good.

What this is doing in a thread about the much more sinister and evil goings on re Pickett is something of a mystery.

Were such deeds to have been done, it would of course have made a mockery of Muggeridge's vociferous pretentions to saving the nation's morals, let alone his own.

But of course, such a thing would have been impossible from such upright figureheads. Obviously. Incontrovertibly.

The same would have once been said about others...

[BBMmk2]

Quite simply, this doesn't do the arts in general any good, whatsoever.

[Mary Chambers]

Passing judgement on matters as they stood in the 1970s to the way they would be considered today is a pointless exercise in peddling tittle-tattle and malicious gossip that does no-one any good.

Absolutely, but it's obvious that some people get a kick out of doing this.

[jean]

I don't agree; it's part of a culture that allowed the much more serious things to happen.