THE ex-wife of a Manchester music school director has told a jury she did not encourage him to rape a former pupil.

Hilary Kay Brewer, 68, of Knowl Gap Avenue, Haslingden, denies sexually assaulting the teenager more than 30 years ago, before she was tied to their marital bed where she aided and abetted her husband’s rape.

Michael Brewer, also 68, is also accused of committing a string of indecent assaults against the same girl in the late 1970s and early 1980s while she was at the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music, in Manchester.

Brewer was awarded an OBE for services to music in 1995 after he served as director of music at Chetham’s.

Giving evidence, at Manchester Crown Court, Mrs Brewer, known by her middle name of Kay, denied she ever had any sexual contact with the alleged victim, who was said to be 18 at the time.

The Crown said Mrs Brewer was aware of her husband’s relationship with the girl and had told her that she had wanted a sexual relationship with a woman, and that she felt owed.

The jury heard previously that Brewer quit Chetham’s at the end of 1994 after his affair with a 17-year-old pupil emerged, in which he regularly fondled her naked breasts in his office.

Mrs Brewer was said to have known about that relationship and, on one occasion, allegedly visited her husband’s office where he showed her matching engraved watches he had bought for himself and his teenage love interest.

Asked about her knowledge of that relationship, Mrs Brewer confirmed she was told about it by her ex-husband “a matter of days” before it became public knowledge.

She added she assumed the girl was 18 and that she understood it to be a non-sexual relationship.

Asked what her reaction was when she learned of Brewer’s affair, Mrs Brewer said: “I was happy that he had somebody he was fond of. I think he hoped it would go on after she had left school.”

Cross-examining, Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, asked her if she did not think it was possible there was some sort of sexual activity going on with the girl. “That was not the way he was,” she replied. “I did not know her, but I knew him. I did not suspect. It did not cross my mind.”

Mrs Brewer denies one count of indecent assault, and aiding and abetting rape.

Brewer, of Swarthmore Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, denies rape and eight counts of indecent assault.

(Proceeding)