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| Malcolm Layfield: Chetham's music teacher cleared of rape | Malcolm Layfield: Chetham's music teacher cleared of rape |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A former teacher at a prestigious music school has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old student in the early 1980s. | A former teacher at a prestigious music school has been cleared of raping an 18-year-old student in the early 1980s. |
| Malcolm Layfield, 63, denied claims he had used his "power and influence" to assault her in the back of his car. | Malcolm Layfield, 63, denied claims he had used his "power and influence" to assault her in the back of his car. |
| He admitted he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s. | He admitted he had pursued a number of consensual sexual relationships with students throughout the 1980s. |
| But the former violin teacher at Manchester's Chetham's School of Music denied he "crossed the line" during a summer school in Cornwall. | But the former violin teacher at Manchester's Chetham's School of Music denied he "crossed the line" during a summer school in Cornwall. |
| A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield. | A jury at Manchester Crown Court took less than 90 minutes to acquit Mr Layfield. |
| 'Gave in' | |
| Mr Layfield had been accused of driving the woman in the middle of the night to an isolated spot and raping her while she was drunk on an alcoholic punch made by him. | |
| The complainant, who had been taught by Mr Layfield at Chetham's and Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), said she "gave in" and went on to have consensual sex with him over the following six weeks. | |
| She said she had been under Mr Layfield's "influence and power" as he threatened to take work opportunities away from her if she changed tutors. | |
| Mr Layfield, of Castle Quay, Castlefield, told the jury he was not in a position to "destroy people's careers". He said she had willingly got into his car and that sex was "mutual". | |
| Mr Layfield's solicitor, Matthew Claughton, said the verdict had come as a "huge relief" to his client. |