Millionaire businessman, 71, who bought £37,000-a-year boarding school so he could abuse pupils on his country estate over two decades from the 90s is jailed for three years

• Brian Martin has been jailed after being convicted of historic sex abuse charges
• The 71-year-old abused boy and girl after grooming them at Queen Ethelburga’s 
• Martin owned the school in North Yorkshire and moved it to his country estate
• He was jailed for three years and three months after was was convicted of one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault following two trials

Jailed: Brian Martin, 71, has been convicted of historic sexual offences at Leeds Crown Court

A millionaire businessman who bought a boarding school so he could abuse pupils on his country estate with links to the Bronte family has been jailed for three years and three months.

Entertainment magnate Brian Martin, now 71, sexually abused a boy and girl boarder while using his position as Chairman of the Governors to groom them.

He had appointed himself ‘Provost’ of £37,000 a year Queen Ethelburgers School, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

He then stunned parents by mothballing the building and moving the pupils into a new school on his own country estate at Thorpe Underwood Hall, Ouseburn, near York.

Det Sgt Graeme Bevington, who led the North Yorkshire Police investigation, was horrified by what happened next.

He said: ‘Brian Martin was a well-respected member of society and a successful businessman.

‘It was due to his success as a businessman that he was able to purchase Queen Ethelburga’s School which he moved from Harrogate to the Thorpe Underwood Estate where he lived with his family.

‘The students who attended the school considered it to be safe and family oriented, and Brian Martin was a key figure at the school.

‘Despite significant investment being made in the school, all this served to do was to create an environment that Martin could exploit for his own sinister gains.

Brian Martin, 71, appointed himself ‘Provost’ of £37,000 a year Queen Ethelburgers School (pictured), near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and moved it to his country estate in Ouseburn

‘He preyed on the vulnerability of the students and was able to manipulate circumstances which allowed him to sexually abuse two children who were boarding students and therefore isolated from their families.

‘The school was supposed to be a safe place for the victims, and they should have been able to trust all adults and staff at the school.

‘They could not have possibly conceived that it would be at this supposed safe place where they would be harmed so significantly by someone in a position of trust.’

The millionaire made a fortune in insurance and ran a string of companies including entertainment and equestrian businesses.

Thorpe Underwood Hall, dating from 1912, stands close to the site of the old Thorpe Green Hall, which had been destroyed by fire at the end of the 19th century, and which is remembered now for its connection to the Bronte family.

Anne Bronte lived at Thorpe Green as governess to the Robinson family. She was joined by her brother Branwell, but his time there was to precipitate the crisis that led to his death.

Martin was jailed for three years and three months at Leeds Crown Court after being convicted

One of Martin’s business addresses was the Monk’s House which was the home of Branwell while he was tutor to the Robinsons’ son.

The conviction of sexually assaulting a boy in the late 2000s followed a retrial of a case that was put before a jury in 2018, when Martin was acquitted.

Martin was also found guilty of indecent assault on a girl in the early-to-mid 1990s at another retrial held in 2019.

He was acquitted of six other child sexual abuse offences at the original trial in 2018, when he was accused of abusing boys and girls aged 13 to 17 between 2005 and 2010.

The millionaire, who moved to the village of Ferensby, near Harrogate, has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

DS Bevington added: ‘The bravery shown by the victims in this case to speak out against their abuser cannot be praised highly enough.

‘They have had to give evidence in open court about the most vulnerable and traumatic experiences of their lives and re-live the dreadful abuse that was forced upon them many years ago when they were just children.

‘The courage and conviction behind their evidence has led to Brian Martin being publicly exposed as the predatory paedophile that he really is.

‘They have finally had justice for what they have had to endure for so long.’

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