Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig Pleads Guilty to Two Child Sex Offenses
Latham-Koenig arranged to meet with an then-undercover police officer who was posing online as a fourteen-year-old boy
70-year-old British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig has pleaded guilty to two child sex offenses and has entered no plea on a third charge, according to the BBC.
Latham-Koenig appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, February 23, 2024, having been arrested on January 10, 2024.
Prosecuting barrister Jason Seetal told the court that Latham-Koenig struck up a conversation on a dating app with an undercover police officer, who was posing online as a fourteen-year-old boy. Latham-Koenig then moved the conversation over to WhatsApp, where he arranged to meet the minor in person at a nearby cafe.
When Latham-Koenig arrived at the cafe in Victoria railway station, he was arrested.
Ultimately, Latham-Koenig pleaded guilty to intentionally arranging or facilitating an act of sexual activity with a child, between the dates of December 9 and January 11.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child with the purpose of sexual gratification, between the same dates.
Latham-Koenig opted not to enter a plea to the third charge of "attempting to meet a person under the age of 16 and engage in sexual activity during or after the meeting," according to BBC.
District Judge John Law granted conditional bail to Latham-Koenig. He also set a plea and trial preparation hearing at Southwark Crown Court for March 22, at which time the third charge will be addressed.
Born in England and of French, Danish, and Polish ancestry, Jan Latham-Koenig is the founder and Artistic Director of the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra. From 2011, he served as the principal director of Moscow’s Novaya Opera and became its artistic director in 2013 — a position he left in March 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was awarded the OBE in 2020 for services to music and UK-Russian cultural relations.
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