A former Royal Ballet star who was jailed in 2019 for sexually abused his child dance pupils has had his sentence extended after a fourth victim came forward.
Disgraced dancer Stephen Beagley, 65, who danced with Freddie Mercury, Joan Collins and Wayne Sleep was jailed for ten years in 2019 after a court heard harrowing details of his years of abuse.
Beagley had now another five years added to his sentence after a judge described how his callous and selfish behaviour had robbed a young woman of her childhood.
His fourth victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, decided to go through with the prosecution after reading about his abuse in the Press.
She told the court she had to face the fact she had been groomed by a paedophile.
Ballet dancer Stephen Beagley lifting Freddie Mercury over his head during rehearsals for the Royal Ballet gala
Beagley was jailed for ten years in 2019 for sexually abusing young dance pupils
His Honour Judge Stephen Mooney said the woman had been in counselling following her decision to support the prosecution.
‘She had to deal with a reluctance to have children for fear they suffer the same fate as her,’ he said.
Beagley had groomed her in a gross abuse of trust, targeting a vulnerable child, the judge said.
Lewes Crown Court heard Beagley, who appeared by video from HMP Bure, began texting his fourth victim while she was struggling to cope with the sudden death of a friend in 2010 when she was only 11-years-old.
The sexual abuse began almost immediately.
Sophie Shotton for the Crown said: ‘After her best friend died, she began texting Beagley.
‘He got the girl and her mother tickets for Swan Lake.
‘After he missed his train home, she offered to give him a lift.
‘He got in the back seat and touched her in the car as he talked to her mum.’
The girl believed they were in a relationship and they would text each other up to 50 times a day.
Beagley sexually abused her until he moved to Thailand.
Sussex Police contacted the young woman in 2017 as part of the investigation which lead to Beagley being jailed for ten years in 2019.
A judge added five years to the 10 Beagley has been serving since 2019 after the latest victim came forward
She changed her mind and decided to support a new prosecution after reading press reports.
In May 2019, she told police Beagley first took an interest in her when she was nine.
The abuse continued online when he moved to the Far East.
They kept in contact and she visited him in Thailand years later when she was 18.
Sophie Shotton said: ‘She found it weird he didn’t want to have sex with her when she was 18.
‘She still believed they had been in a relationship.
‘When she saw press coverage, she realised she had to go to police.’
The woman read her own victim impact statement to the court.
‘For seven years, I was unaware I was being assaulted by a paedophile.
‘I thought we were in a relationship.
‘It has taken me a very long time to come to terms with the fact I was groomed by a paedophile.
‘I feel different to other girls my age.
‘I’m worried about being manipulated by men.
‘I constantly question myself about how my life would have been different.
‘I feel like I’m damaged goods.’
Beagley started dancing aged eight and rose to become principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.
He was one of Britain’s leading classical dancers in the 1970s and 1980s.
As well as lead roles in Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, he had a starring role in West End musical Cats, going on to become an influential and well respected dance instructor and choreographer who taught around the world.
The dancer, from Gravesend in Kent, had a position as dance teacher at a prep school and offered private tuition to young girl dancers outside school.
After gaining their trust he would visit their homes where much of the abuse took place.
The first indecent assault took place on a girl aged 10 when he offered her private ballet tuition.
The court heard he first abused another of the girls between 2006-2010 when she was just nine years and went on to repeatedly assault her.
A third girl was assaulted on a single occasion.
Impact statements from two of the victims told how their lives had been ‘wrecked’ by the abuse.
His first victim was abused between 1997-98 when she was 10-years-old, the second was abused between 2006-10 when she was nine and 12-years-old, and his third victim was assaulted by Beagley in 2009 when she was 12.
Beagley was principal dancer for 14 years, performing for the Queen’s silver jubilee gala in 1977.
One of the many highlights of Beagley’s career was Sir Frederick Ashton’s one-act ballet Rhapsody, created to mark the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday.
In 1989 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring in its record-breaking production of A Clockwork Orange and he briefly appeared in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.
For many years Beagley was a guest teacher and the head of adult ballet programme for the English National Ballet.
In 1994 he designed and built a ballet studio in Japan, teaching students from the age of three.
He also taught at the Boston Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, and worked with ballet students in New Zealand, Shanghai, America, Italy. He most recently worked with the Bangkok City Ballet as artistic director.
Beagley was sentenced to nine months concurrent for two charges, another three years for four charges, two years and three months for count 11 and eight years reduced to six on the most serious charge.
Adjusting for totality, Judge Mooney added five years to the 10 Beagley has been serving since 2019.
He will be 75 before he is eligible to be released on licence.