Violinist in rape trial could not cope with questioning by woman QC But despite being in desperate need of help she did not receive treatment as she had been told that it might be used against her by the defence team. On Friday Brewer, Mrs Andrade's former teacher at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and a world-renowned choirmaster, and his ex-wife Kay, both 68, were convicted of indecent assault against her when she was a teenager. But before the conviction she is believed to have committed suicide by injecting herself with an overdose of insulin taken from her husband, a diabetic. The jury were not told until after the verdict. The circumstances surrounding her death have sparked a furious debate about the treatment of vulnerable witnesses. Oliver's comments to the Daily Mail are likely to fuel the fire as he claims she was given a shocking lack of care by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. As soon as she walked out of the courtroom she "burst into tears," he said, adding: "She described it as feeling like she had been assaulted all over again. She often expressed her shock how, as a woman, the barrister was able to do that. I think she took it as a personal attack. Mrs Andrade had a troubled childhood. Adopted by a vicar soon after she was born she was repeatedly raped from the age of eight by her uncle and her adopted father, to whom she was very close, died when she was 12. At 13 she won a place at the prestigious school but was targeted by Brewer. At the age of 18, his wife joined in the abuse, telling Frances that she "owed her" as she indecently assaulted her. Mrs Andrade turned to alcohol and self harm, but the picture is not one recognised by her four children - trainee science teacher Joshua, 24, Oliver, Jacob, 19, and Lola, nine. Oliver describes his successful mother as "bubbly, always lively" and has fond memories of the family home in Guildford. After turning her back on music for 15 years she began playing and teaching violin when she met Jenevora Williams, a teacher-in-residence at the National Youth Choir, where Brewer was by now working as a director. She confided in her new friend about the abuse and Miss Williams told the police without discussing it with her - something Mrs Andrade would not have done as she had "blocked it off" and kept it from her children. Oliver, who said his mother was upset, said she felt she had to go through with it as she knew it was the "right thing to do." But when the police became involved she started to struggle and took a number of overdoses. She refused to get professional psychiatric help, saying the police had told her the defence might suggest that "false memories" had been planted in her mind if she underwent therapy. "Mum interpreted it that if she had therapy she would be told she had made it all up," her son said. She was waiting for the case to be over before seeking treatment but when the court case began in mid-January the pressure intensified and she was ill-prepared. He travelled to Manchester with her for the trial but rather than taking an afternoon, as expected, she was in the witness box for three days. She felt she had been pressurised to give evidence in person, including from the police who reminded her how much time and money they had put into it, and she saw it as a chance to confront Brewer and get it over with. Olive, who saw her distress and took charge of her medication, said her mental state deteriorated further as she was subjected to a day-long cross-examination by Ms Blackwell. He said: "All that she could think was that she was being attacked, she found that extremely hard. She said she didn't know how the QC could do it. She didn't understand how she could defend these people, having seen what an effect it had. When someone is calling you a liar ... not just once, but every couple of sentences and in quite an aggressive manner and concerning very, very horrific parts of her life. She took the attack personally and was angry that Brewer's defence was that the whole of her evidence was a lie, which was not what she expected. The last time Oliver, the second of four children, saw his mother was after she gave evidence, when she dropped him off at his Cambridge College and told him that she loved him and was proud of him. She had told her 21-year-old son: "I love all of you, but that I am also incredibly sad and don't know how to get out of it." She was unable to tell her family why she had tried to take her own life, but Oliver, who had attended court with her on every day, said she just wanted to escape and he understood what she was going through. Two days later a report online mentioned that the jury, on direction from the judge, had recorded not guilty verdicts on five counts of indecent assault due to insufficient evidence. The next morning she was found dead in her bed with an iPad next to her with the story about the dropped charges open on it. But her son maintains that the only people to blame in the end are the Brewers.