Edward, whose real name is not available, said he met Pickthall when he was three and the abuse began when he was a student aged 12 or 13.

He would go to Pickthall’s home for one-on-one piano lessons and that’s where a lot of the abuse took place.

“I really saw him as a friend, he was someone I would see a lot on Saturday nights.

“We would get pizza and I remember drinking a lot of whiskey there and then on Sunday he would take me home and stay for Sunday lunch, that was the level of confidence he had.”

Edward said: “You’d go over there and he’d put pornography on the TV and then he’d sit next to you and then he’d feel if you were getting aroused while you were watching him, which was always a bit disturbing.”

Edward said he saw Pickthall put his hands down some other boys’ trousers and called it the “tickle spot”.

“He did this to me once and I hit him.”

“It’s weird looking back because it’s so incredibly wrong. You can’t really see it until you look with adult eyes.”

Edward said he had always been academic, had a successful career and a family of his own.

He said Essex Police contacted him in 2021.

“One of the reasons I didn’t come forward with that kind of grooming was because he was kind of a friend. So it’s really weird to start telling stories about a friend.

“But then you review all of this with an adult’s mind and realize he’s nothing more than a friend.”