A disgraced teacher and choirmaster has admitted 29 sexual offences spanning four decades. 

David Pickthall, 65, worked as a choirmaster in Havering and as a music teacher in Brentwood for many years. 

He was awarded an MBE in 2015 for services to education and to charity. 

But Pickthall has now admitted offences against 19 people between 1980 and 2021 in Brentwood and Upminster. 

He admitted 16 counts of indecent assault, ten counts of voyeurism and three counts of making an indecent image of a child.

Investigating officer Det Con 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.” 

Essex Police said Pickthall had been charged with nearly 40 offences but at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (October 8) the offences were condensed into 29 offences which encompassed all the offending against the 19 victims. 

Pickthall, of Cheveley Park in Suffolk, is due to be sentenced in November.