Convicted sex attacker who fled Britain taunts police with sickening 'Diary of an Exile' blog about his 'courage and determination'

A renowned musician and former university professor who went on the run while he was being prosecuted for a string of sex attacks is taunting police from abroad with an online blog called 'Diary of an Exile'.

In the sickening diary, Agustin Fernandez, 62, compares himself to Oscar Wilde, insists he is innocent, talks of his 'courage' and 'determination' and writes of a 'lifetime's work' with the young.

He also lists the things he says he has 'lost', including his family, four cats, two houses, a dog and a car.

The Bolivian-born composer, who was a lecturer and later a professor at Newcastle University, was found guilty of 13 sex offences and was jailed for 23 years in March.

He did not attend his sentencing and it is understood he fled overseas after the police investigation into his crimes was launched, leaving his reputation in tatters.

Agustin Fernandez , a renowned musician and ex-Newcastle University professor who went on the run while he was being prosecuted for a string of sex attacks, is taunting police from abroad with an online blog called 'Diary of an Exile'

In the diary (extract above), Fernandez, 62, compares himself to Oscar Wilde, insists he is innocent and writes of a 'lifetime's work' with the young. He also lists the things he says he has 'lost', including his family, four cats, two houses, a dog and a car

Fernandez's compositions have been performed all over the world including the Lincoln Centre in New York, and the Latin American Music Festival in Caracas. The Bolivian-born composer was found guilty of 13 sex offences and was jailed for 23 years in March. (Above, file image of Fernandez)

But despite his status as a fugitive, he is regularly updating 'Diary of an Exile', which bears the sub-heading: 'Things that happen to a man who is banished from his own life'.

In it, he writes of how he decided to come to the UK after being inspired by writer Oscar Wilde while studying in Japan in the early Eighties.

He tells of how he was reading The Picture Of Dorian Gray on a train when he came across a quote from Lord Henry Wotton, who says: 'It is only the sacred things that are worth touching.'

Fernandez writes: 'I savoured the words I had just read and thought to myself, "I have to experience the country that produced this man".'

He goes on to compare the prosecution of the playwright, who was jailed for his homosexuality, with his own court case, writing: 'There is an ocean between him and me, not least in the drastic factual differences between the two legal cases.

'He was guilty of a crime that is not a crime; I am innocent of a crime that is.'

In another blog post entitled 'Balance Sheet', the disgraced composer lists things he has 'lost' and 'gained' as a result of his conviction.

Fernandez suffered a spectacular fall from grace after a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found him guilty of a catalogue of horrific crimes, including five of rape and six of sexual assault. He was also convicted of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and a further similar offence. He was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment, with a one-year extended licence period, and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life

He includes 'freedom of movement', 'the North Tyne Valley' and 'reputation' among his losses. But he says he has gained 'freedom, 'patience', 'resilience', 'courage' and 'determination'.

He also defends himself by saying: 'There is a lifetime's work and interaction with young and very young people behind me to back me up, including some relationships that have been as close as they can be.

'If there had been the motivation, there would have been unfettered opportunity for crime. But there has not been, and there is not.'

One former Newcastle University student who was taught by the musician said: 'He was talented and charming and no-one would ever have suspected him of such crimes.

'This makes the fact he has absconded even more worrying, as he has an air of respectability that could enable him to offend again.

'I am shocked by his blog. I can't believe he has the b*lls to post while he's on the run.'

Fernandez's compositions have been performed all over the world including the Lincoln Centre in New York, and the Latin American Music Festival in Caracas.

The academic, whose address was given in court as West Parade, in Newcastle, has also collaborated with the London International Opera Festival, Royal Opera House's Garden Venture and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

But he suffered a spectacular fall from grace after a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found him guilty of a catalogue of horrific crimes, including five of rape and six of sexual assault.

He was also convicted of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and a further similar offence.

On March 16 Fernandez, who started his career as a folk musician, was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment, with a one-year extended licence period, and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

In another online blog, Fernandez writes of tendering his resignation at Newcastle University last year after almost 25 years.

He says: 'There is any number of ways I might have imagined my time at Newcastle University to come to an end, but not the way it happened.

'If we were not well-bred people who respect each other and if recriminations were to fly across the ether, I do wonder what recrimination the institution would find to throw my way.

'That misfortune struck, perhaps, and that there is a limit to how far an institution can sustain a situation of misfortune. If that was a reprehensible act on my part, I have paid for it by falling on my sword.'

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: 'Efforts are still ongoing to locate Fernandez.'