A former choirmaster and teacher from Suffolk has admitted to a series of sexual offences spanning across four decades. 

David Pickthall, of Cheveley Park, Cheveley, was charged with nearly 40 offences and appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

An Essex Police investigation into the offences dates between 1980 and 2021 in Brentwood and Upminster and relates to 19 people.

At court, these offences were condensed into 29 offences and the 65-year-old then admitted 16 counts of indecent assault, 10 counts of voyeurism and three counts of making an indecent image of a child. 

Pickthall was working as a choirmaster in the borough of Havering and a teacher in Brentwood during some of this time period.

He is due to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 11. 

Investigating officer Detective Constable Chelsie Stamford said: “I want to praise the strength demonstrated by the victims in this case for coming forward and telling us what happened to them.

“David Pickthall subjected them to an unimaginable ordeal that will stay with them for their whole lives.

“Their evidence has ensured we’ve been able to hold Pickthall accountable for what he has done to them and will face justice.

“Ultimately, he was faced with no option other than to admit his crimes.”