Pitcairn postmaster admits sex charges

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.

Dennis Christian, the island postmaster and a descendant of the mutineer Fletcher Christian, admitted carrying out three sexual assaults against two girls aged as young as 12 between the early 1970s and early 1980s. Two of the charges were samples representing a prolonged pattern of abuse.