A tutor known to his pupils as Mr Music has been found at the foot of a 100ft cliff after being charged with sex offences.

Clifford Barratt, 71, the former music coordinator with Gateshead Borough Council, was arrested in connection with abuse allegations dating back 20 years.

Child protection officers investigated claims by women saying they were abused by him when children.

Mr Barratt, of Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, was charged with 22 offences, on four girls under the age of 16. He was charged in April and appeared before Gateshead magistrates where the charges were outlined.

Mr Barratt was granted bail when he appeared again in May at Newcastle Crown Court and his case was adjourned until yesterday.

He was found dead at 9am on Tuesday, the day before he was due to face the court.

Yesterday, police confirmed he had been found dead on the beach at Marsden Grotto, South Shields, South Tyneside.

South Shields CID said the death was not suspicious, and the matter had been reported to the coroner.

Mr Barratt was a well-known music teacher and schools advisor on Tyneside in the 1970s and 1980s.

He moved to the region in 1966 and was employed by Gateshead council as a music advisor, visiting schools. He was also musical director of Newcastle Amateur Operatic Society and an accomplished pianist.

He gave solo performances, played in and conducted symphony orchestras, including a joint production of the Sound of Music by inmates of Holloway women's prison and Pentonville prison, in London.