A victim of a convicted paedophile who carried out his abuse over four decades has said his abuser's words "will always" haunt him.

David Pickthall, of Ingrave Road, Brentwood, Essex, was jailed for 12 years on Monday at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The MBE recipient was charged with nearly 40 offences between 1980 and 2021 in Brentwood and Upminster relating to 19 people.

He admitted to 29 offences at an earlier hearing including 16 counts of indecent assault, 10 counts of voyeurism and three counts of making an indecent image of a child.

One of his victims, who is now in his 50s, spoke out ahead of the 66-year-old's sentencing.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons and was given the pseudonym Mark, said he was abused from around the age of 12.

Mark was taught music by Pickthall, who lived in Cheverley in Suffolk, and said the teacher carried his abuse over four years. 

Mark said: “At the time the physical and the sexual side of it was really unpleasant but that isn’t what stuck with me.

“I would say that 90% of the damage he did to me was psychological.

“One of the things he said to me, and it will always just haunt me forever, is that… he said to me ‘nobody will ever find you attractive or love you and you should be grateful for the physical attention I’m giving you because no-one else will give that to you’.”

READ MORE: Former Suffolk teacher David Pickthall jailed for sex crimes

Mark went to the police in 2021, as he felt it was the right thing to do and said he hoped it will stop other children or their parents being put through something similar.

The victim said: “In the public eye he was a well-respected teacher, he was an accomplished musician, he delivered concerts, he’s written scores for household names like Tracy Beaker, Julian Fellowes, Paul O’Grady.

“I can always remember that when I went to concerts where he was performing he would quite often be the conductor at those concerts and at the end of the concerts the audience would give him rapturous applause.

“There would be a standing ovation and he was stood there literally basking in this adoration of him.

“I found that really difficult to deal with as I knew that behind closed doors he was a monster."

Another victim, who used the pseudonym Edward, said Pickthall would "essentially start playfighting and tickling" boys as a way to touch them inappropriately.

Edward, who is now aged in his late 30s, said he had hit Pickthall when he tried to touch him but he had seen him "do it on other occasions to other boys”.

“It’s quite shocking looking back as an adult,” he said, adding that he started to stay over from around the age of 12.

He said he did not speak about the abuse at the time but decided to do so when he was contacted in 2022 by police and realised that the offending had continued.

During sentencing, Judge Mary Loram KC told Pickthall: “You are without a shadow of a doubt a predatory and manipulative paedophile who has adapted his offending over the years.

“If you hadn’t been arrested you would have carried on.”