A “lecherous” music tutor has been jailed for molesting three girls while giving them private lessons at his home in Huddersfield in the 1970s.

Neil Garland, now 71, was at the time a music teacher at Huddersfield High School but the offences occurred when he saw students privately at his home in Linthwaite.

Catherine Duffy, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court today the first complainant was 13 or 14 and remembered when she was having a clarinet lessons with Garland he would put his hands on her abdomen telling her she was not breathing correctly.

She was preparing for her Grade six examination when they were sitting on the sofa on one occasion and he put his arm around her and started to massage her breasts over clothing.

He told her: “Don’t worry, it’s not that I want to have sex with you, I can do that with my wife. It’s just that I was thinking it would be nice for the two of us to be closer together.”

She moved away and did not feel able to tell anybody about it at that time.

The second complainant described how she was aged 13 or 14 and was having an oboe lesson with Garland and was lying on the floor doing breathing exercises when he put his hand on her breast over her clothing.

She said she felt very frightened and never told anybody until seen by the police when the recent inquiry began.

Miss Duffy said the third victim was aged 13 to 15 when during a flute lesson at Garland’s home he sat next to her on the sofa when he put one hand round her shoulder and the other on her breast.

She said she felt scared and frightened particularly as she had to wait until the lesson was over to be collected by her father.

In a victim impact statement she said she began to hate music and wanted to stop playing.

She said: “My parents couldn’t understand why my attitude changed.”

She said it affected her confidence and relationships and she wished she had spoken up sooner.

Stephen Crossley, representing Garland, said he now acknowledged his behaviour was unacceptable.

“There was no justification for it and that it represented a breach of trust of these children and their parents,” said Mr Crossley.

He said Garland had described to a probation officer that looking back now he saw his actions as “arrogant, selfish, weak, greedy, stupid and lecherous.”

Having had time to reflect on his behaviour he also appreciated the impact on his victims and was very sorry for it.

There had been no further offending since and Mr Crossley suggested a prison sentence could be suspended

Garland, 71 of Cowlersley Lane, Linthwaite, admitted three charges of indecent assault – which at the time carried a maximum sentence of only two years.

Jailing him for six months and ordering him to register as a sex offender for seven years, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said he had taken account of his age. Although the offences were many years ago he said they involved a gross breach of trust.

He told Garland: “These girls were vulnerable adolescents who did not complain of it for perfectly understandable reasons, for very many years. It often does have and has in this case has had significant psychological affect on your victims.”

“You must understand that however long ago it was consequences will follow when victims gain the courage to complain about what happened to them. It is impossible to deal with it without an immediate custodial sentence.”