AN internationally-renowned conductor from Otley is facing jail for sexually abusing two young boys.

Joseph Cullen, a married father-of-three, admitted two charges of using lewd and libidinous conduct when he appeared at Glasgow High Court last Thursday (June 18).

The offences took place between 1976 and 1982, when the 55-year-old – until recently the chorus master for Huddersfield Choral Society – was involved with choirs in Glasgow.

Cullen's dark history remained a secret as his musical career bloomed and he went on to later win two Grammy awards for the London Symphony Orchestra.

Cullen is known as a cycling campaigner in Otley, and had worked with the town council on plans to improve local cycling facilities.

He was also welcomed to Westminster last summer, at a pre-Tour de France event, by MP Greg Mulholland and the then Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

But his past caught up with him after one of his victims went to the police in 2013, sparking an investigation.

The court heard the first first boy to suffer at his hands was groomed soon after joining a choir at St Aloysius Church in Glasgow, where Cullen was also a member.

The boy was aged about eight when the abuse began, and Prosecutor Steven Borthwick said Cullen would secretly give him “pocket money".

In his mid-late teens at the time, Cullen gained the trust of the boy’s parents and would visit the family home, where the first incident took place, before he again molested the boy at the house.

A final, more serious attack on the child also occurred at the property in 1978.

It was while choirmaster for a singing group at St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow Cullen met his second victim in the early 1980s.

Cullen would drive the boy, aged about 11 when first abused, to and from choir practice and "would instigate excuses for the boy to be within his vehicle".

Cullen once again befriended the family, then preyed upon the child at Cullen's home of the time, in Riddrie, Glasgow, and in the cathedral's changing rooms.

Cullen had attacked the boy in his car, too, while driving him from school where he was also a music teacher.

It was not until 2007 that this victim confronted the musician – now a renowned conductor, choir master and organist – after getting his contact details from his website.

The matter was taken to police in 2013, at about the same time the first victim also told his family of the abuse.

Police investigated in early 2014, which led to Cullen being confronted at his Otley home.

The first victim told the court he wished he had a "magic wand" to fix all the mental scars the abuse had left.

The second's mum, meanwhile, said her son had changed from being a "really talented boy" to ending up homeless.

Cullen was placed on the sex offenders register, granted continuing bail, and will be sentenced in July.