By Ian Gallagher and Michael Powell for The Mail on Sunday
Published: 22:39 BST, 4 May 2019 | Updated: 23:03 BST, 4 May 2019
Stephen Beagley, 61, has been charged with sexually assaulting three underage girls
A former Royal Ballet star and world renowned dance teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting three underage girls.
Stephen Beagley, 61, was one of Britain's leading classical dancers in the 1970s and 1980s and also took the lead in the West End musical Cats.
But following a year-long police investigation, he was charged last week with 12 sexual assaults on three girls aged under 14.
The offences are alleged to have taken place on different dates between 1998 and 2010.
Beagley, from East Sussex, will appear before Brighton magistrates on May 16.
An influential dance instructor and choreographer for the past 25 years, Beagley has taught all over the world and once ran his own ballet school in Japan.
For six years, he was ballet coach to the London musical Billy Elliot, and his most recent work has been with the Bangkok City Ballet as artistic director.
Before turning to teaching, he enjoyed an illustrious career during which he appeared on film and television, as well as the stage.
He joined the Royal Ballet as a teenager and later became a principal dancer, an accolade he held for 14 years, and took the lead roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Romeo and
