Pitcairn islander Mike Warren has said he believed the prosecutions of a number of men from the island on sex abuse charges were a British “set-up”.

The mayor of tiny Pitcairn Island – home to the descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers – yesterday became the first of seven island men to stand trial for sex abuse, in a case that has split the isolated community.

The mayor of tiny Pitcairn Island – home to the descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers – is among seven men accused in a string of sexual assaults in the isolated community dating back decades, court documents revealed today.