A "distinguished" cellist who was a member of the London Symphony Orchestra and played with Jacqueline du Pre was today ordered to complete a sex offender treatment programme after a court heard how he had "fondled" boys while giving private music lessons.

Father-of-two Roger Lunn, 71, sexually abused three boy pupils between 1970 and 1989 when living in Haywards Heath and Surbiton, Surrey, Cambridge Crown Court was told.

A probation officer thought that widower Lunn, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, who admitted indecent assault, continued to pose a risk, the court heard.

Judge Jonathan Haworth said he had considered imposing a jail term but had decided instead to impose a three-year probation order with a requirement that Lunn complete a sex offender treatment programme.

The court was told that Lunn abused boys, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, aged between five and 12.

Prosecutor Maryam Syed said Lunn was arrested in 2009 after the victims - by then adults - made complaints to police.

She said boys had made allegations about Lunn in 1969, when he was teaching at a school near Surbiton.

Miss Syed said Lunn wrote a "confession letter" to the school's head in which he admitted "fondling" but denied "unnatural sexual intercourse".

Lunn was not convicted of any offence but Miss Syed said his name was added to "List 99" - a government education department list which contained the names of teachers barred from working with children or considered unsuitable to work with children.

But within a few months of his name being added to the list, Lunn abused a boy while giving private cello lessons in Surbiton, Miss Syed added.

She told the court that Lunn had been a member of the London Symphony Orchestra.

James Mason, for Lunn, said his client had enjoyed an "immensely distinguished" career, was a "brilliant cellist" and had taught many pupils.

He said Lunn had performed with some of the world's leading orchestras, played with du Pre - who died in 1987 at the age of 42 after contracting multiple sclerosis in her 20s and is thought by many critics to have been the greatest cellist - and "given immense pleasure to a vast range of people".

Mr Mason said Lunn was also "deeply religious" and had been a "model husband and father".