The perverted piper
He abused 6 children at £12k-a-year school
ONE of the world’s leading pipers has been found guilty of abusing pupils at a Scottish private school.
Music teacher Gordon Walker – who has won coveted competitions and who composed a march for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – was convicted last week of assaulting six children at the £12,000-a-year school.
The 51-year-old targeted the youngsters, aged ten to 17, at the school, which cannot be named for legal reasons. He denied 19 charges of ‘lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour’ towards the pupils, between 2007 and 2017.
At Paisley Sheriff Court, a jury convicted Walker of 12 of 19 charges, against five girls and one boy, finding allegations he assaulted a seventh pupil not proven.
The trial had heard Walker, of Moscow, Ayrshire, tickled girls, touched their breasts and made inappropriate comments, as well as stroking a boy’s thigh during piping lessons.
He quizzed his victims, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, about their relationships and told girls that playing the pipes would make their breasts bigger.
The victims said his reputation as one of the world’s best bagpipers allowed him to target them without reproach. The boy said he had complained to teachers, but was told: ‘Well, that’s what happens when you’re the best piper in the world.’
Walker won the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal, perhaps the most coveted award in piping, at Oban in 1993 and at Inverness the following year. His Fiddler’s Jig has been called ‘one of the greatest compositions of the past 25 years’.
But his piping and teaching careers now lie in tatters, as he has been placed on the sex offenders’ register, will be banned from the classroom and faces prison.
One of his five female victims, now 19, said Walker would ask how many boyfriends she had and tickle her.
She added: ‘He would get me to raise my arms and tickle me under the arms – this happened from the age of 11. He would do it slowly and his hand would brush my breast.’
Another victim, now 21, said Walker repeatedly tickled her, asked her the colour of her underwear and how many boyfriends she had, and told her that if she played the pipes her breasts would get bigger.
The one male victim said he felt ‘uncomfortable’ with Walker ‘touching and tickling’ him. He said Walker would grab his thigh, moving his hand up his leg. He reported Walker’s behaviour to other teachers but said his complaints were ignored.
Prosecutor David McDonald told the court: ‘You are left with a picture of a man in a position of authority, who has exploited that position and abused the children entrusted to him in one-to-one lessons.
‘There is absolutely no reason for those witnesses to be lying.
‘There’s only one person lying – the man who only has one card left to play, by denying everything and accepting nothing.
‘Gordon Walker abused those kids in exactly the way they described and he’s simply trying to escape the consequences of his actions.’
Walker will be sentenced next month.