As six Pitcairn men convicted of sex crimes await sentencing, observers say life on the remote Pacific outpost will never be the same again.

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”.

Six Pitcairn islanders were convicted today of a string of sex attacks, following trials that exposed a culture of abuse on the remote British Pacific territory, home to descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers.

The postmaster of Pitcairn Island has pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl, the first outcome in a series of trials at a makeshift court set up on the remote Pacific outpost to handle charges of sex abuse dating back decades.

The prosecution in the cases of seven Pitcairn men accused of a catalogue of sexual offences against young girls on the island scored a significant victory yesterday when one of the defendants changed his plea to guilty.

A Pitcairn Island man on trial for sex abuse used to act as though young girls were available for him whenever he chose, a prosecutor said in a makeshift courtroom on the remote rocky outcrop populated by descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers.

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.

Half the men on remote Pitcairn Island, which is populated by descendants of the Bounty mutineers, go on trial tomorrow for a string of alleged sex attacks dating back up to 40 years.

Judges and lawyers are putting the final touches to preparations for a string of sex abuse trials that get under way on tiny Pitcairn Island later this week.