MUSIC MAN MICHAEL NANTON, CONVICTED PAEDOPHILE, DIES BEFORE SENTENCING
A CELEBRATED musician living in Southend whose death has sparked tributes in the Caribbean had been convicted weeks earlier of historic child sex offences, a hearing has revealed.Paedophile Michael Nanton, 59, of Southchurch Road, died at Southend Hospital in August.
“Calpyso lovers in St Vincent and the Grenadines are mourning the loss,” wrote Caribbean news outlet Searchlight.
Another paper, The Vincentian, ran an obituary describing him as “a passionate soul”.
Both were seemingly unaware that on July 2, Nanton had been convicted at Southend Crown Court of seven child sex offences against two different victims.
He was due to be sentenced next week – but in a brief hearing at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, the case was formally discontinued.
"He was convicted by a jury," said Judge Samantha Leigh.
"That isn't changing." However, she said she would have to investigate what happens administratively when a defendant dies between conviction and sentencing.
"I've never come across this position before," she confessed.
Jurors found him guilty of one count of raping a girl under 13, four counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, one count of indecently assaulting a girl under 14, and one count of indecently assaulting a girl under 16.
Contacted for comment by the Echo, Nanton’s sister Seleana insisted he had been framed.
She said: “He was a sick man.
They should have waited until he recovered but they put pressure on my brother, causing my brother to die… They pressured my brother to death.
He kept collapsing in court.” Nanton hailed from Georgetown in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where he found fame as a musician.
He called himself Music Man - the Man representing his initials: Michael Anthony Nanton.
He performed calypso, reggae, raggamuffin and soca music, covering topics including “pollution, AIDS, crime and politics,” according to a profile by the Association of Calypsonians and Soca Artistes.
The Vincentian said his popular songs included Mother African and Dem Ah Kill Off De Land.
The newspaper also said he had also been honoured by a former Prime Minister of St Vincent "for his outstanding contributions to youth development work”.
Nanton emigrated to England in 2002, finding work in Southend as a security guard and performing at calypso events.
His YouTube page includes two videos of him being interviewed on Southend seafront, filmed in July 2023 – months after he was charged.
Allegations were first made to Essex Police about him in 2021.
He attended a voluntary interview that June.
Charges were authorised in February 2023 and he finally went on trial in June 2025.
After the jury convicted him on July 2, he was due to be sentenced today before his sudden death.
The minimum sentence for raping a girl under 13 alone would have been six years, but with the collection of offences he had racked up, he would likely have faced upwards of ten years in prison.
However, he died on August 19.
His death certificate shows he died at Southend Hospital from heart failure, but was also suffering from kidney failure and high blood pressure.
His death was registered by his sister Seleana.
