A ROSSENDALE woman and her ex-husband have been convicted of indecently assaulting a former music student who apparently killed herself during the trial.

Top choirmaster Michael Brewer was found guilty of sexually abusing Frances Andrade in his office at Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, when she was aged 14 and 15.

His ex-wife Kay Brewer, 68, who lives in Haslingden, was also convicted of indecently assaulting Mrs Andrade, then known as Shorney, when she was an adult at their then family home. They were both told they face prison sentences.

The body of Mrs Andrade, 48, a gifted violin teacher, was found dead at her home less than a week after she gave evidence against Michael Brewer, 68, at Manchester Crown Court.

The facts were not revealed until the jury reached its verdicts in the case in which the former director of music was defending himself against a number of sexual allegations.

The Crown Prosecution Service had decided to continue with the trial and the judge earlier ruled that news of Mrs Andrade's death should be kept from jurors until they had made their decisions yesterday.

Brewer, of Swarthmore Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, was cleared of raping the victim when she was 18 but was convicted of five counts of indecently assaulting her. Brewer was also cleared of indecently assaulting the victim as a child in his then home in Chorlton, Manchester.

Mrs Brewer, of Knowl Gap, Haslingden, was also cleared of aiding and abetting the alleged rape but convicted of one count of indecent assault against the complainant - said to have taken place on the same night as the alleged rape.

One of the defendants' four daughters gasped from the public gallery when the jury returned its verdict on Kay Brewer.

Mrs Andrade was visibly agitated on occasions as she gave her evidence over two days on January 16 and 17.

She chose to give evidence in the witness box in full view of everyone in the courtroom, including the two defendants in the dock.

At one point she complained about Brewer smiling as she gave her evidence, but she chose to press on without drawing a curtain to block off the dock.

The jury of six men and five women heard that the police investigation was sparked by National Youth Choir teacher Jenavora Williams after her friend, Mrs Andrade, told her about her time at Chetham's.

Mrs Andrade told the court she wanted it to be dealt with internally but she said Mrs Williams went to the police in 2011 without telling her.

She then co-operated with the police and agreed to take part in the prosecution.

The mother-of-four, from Guildford, Surrey, who was married to acclaimed viola player Levine Andrade, was supported from the public gallery by one of her sons.

Mrs Andrade, the sole complainant in the trial, said she was sexually abused by Brewer in his office, practice rooms and his camper van, where she said she would perform oral sex on him as he drove around the streets of Manchester.

Judge Martin Rudland remarked that she was 'clearly undergoing a cathartic experience, whatever the source' while giving evidence.

He said she was 'combative' during cross-examination by Kate Blackwell QC, representing Brewer, and she had taken personal issue with some of the barrister's questions but the judge indicated that Miss Blackwell had acted professionally.

On January 24 it was revealed in court, while the jury was not there, that the complainant had died and it was believed she had killed herself.

A day earlier, the jury, on the direction of the judge, recorded not guilty verdicts on five counts of indecent assault against Brewer due to insufficient evidence about how old the complainant was at the time of the allegations.

Judge Rudland put a temporary reporting ban on the tragic development and kept it from the jury, which was told that matters had arisen which required a brief adjournment.

Brewer, who was awarded an OBE for services to music in 1995, resigned as music director at Chetham's at the end of 1994 after his affair with another pupil, then aged 17, was uncovered.

Judge Martin Rudland told the defendants that a jail sentence for both of them was 'inevitable' as he remanded the pair in custody.

He told them he would need pre-sentence reports to determine the length of custody on a sentencing date to be fixed.

Both will also have to sign the sex offenders register.

Dismissing the jury, the judge said: "Tragically a lady has lost her life during the course of these proceedings.

"She took her own life. She left no note. We do not know the circumstances of which she took her own life."