Harpist Danielle Perrett to be sentenced for sexually abusing a schoolboy

A world-renowned harpist who has performed for the Queen and several Prime Ministers is to be sentenced for sexually abusing a schoolboy in the 1980s.

Danielle Perrett, 59, is to be sentenced alongside her ex-fiance Richard Barton-Wood, 68, for separately indecently assaulting the boy while he was in his early teens.

They had both denied all charges but were convicted following an earlier four-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Perrett, of Bridge Street, Alpheton, Suffolk, was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault.

Barton-Wood, of Church Street, Wymondham, Norfolk, was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and of one count of attempted indecent assault.

Their accuser, now an adult, had told the court that Barton-Wood had worked as a substitute teacher at his school.

He said Barton-Wood sexually assaulted him on sailing trips and camping trips, and that on separate occasions Perrett took his virginity and performed sex acts on him.

The pair had said that the allegations were untrue, the incidents did not happen and that their accuser was trying to blackmail them.

They are listed to be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday.

Judge Rupert Overbury earlier warned them: "The sentence which you're facing when you return to this court is prison."

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