A LEADING north-west music school will figure in a national child abuse inquiry - in the wake of a couple's indecent assault convictions.

Manchester's Chethams has been named as one of the focuses of a new strand of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), chaired by Prof Alexis Jay.

Their former choirmaster Michael Brewer and his wife Hilary, from Haslingden, were jailed for six years and 21 months respectively in 2013 over sex attacks on Chethams music student Frances Andrade.

She took a fatal overdose shortly after giving evidence at the couple's Manchester Crown Court trial.

The pair's convictions led to a further police investigation into alleged sexual abuse at Chethams, stretching back decades, which led to a number of prosecutions.

Five 'victims and survivors' of abuse at Chethams are represented at the IICSA hearings, as well as the institution itself.

Fiona Scolding QC, in an opening statement at a preliminary hearing, said: "The inquiry has decided to focus upon the music school sector because it raises issues which are distinct to other schools with a vocational focus, such as sports/drama, but also raises issues which are relevant to the schools sector more generally.

"The themes which emerge from the information and evidence already analysed include, but are not limited to, the fact that much specialist instrument or voice tuition is one-to-one, and therefore is often not subject to the oversight which takes place in group classes."

Staff working as music teachers might also not have recognised qualifications, she added, and there was no compulsory registration scheme.

Recruitment procedures and vetting, alongside supervision and monitoring of tutors, will also be investigated, the hearing was told.

Other establishments, like the Purcell School for Young Musicians. The Yehudi Menuhin School and several cathedral choir schools, are also parties to the proceedings.

The inquiry's remit echoes calls by Martin Roscoe, who formerly lived in Blackburn and was a section head at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester until 2002.

He said the Brewers' convictions were the "tip of the iceberg" and that there should be a "full inquiry" into historic sexual abuse within the sector.

Further substantive IICSA hearings have now been scheduled for early 2020.