Pitcairn sex abuse: Trial challenge granted

Lawyers defending seven Pitcairn Islands men against a string of sex charges have been granted the right to challenge the trial process before Britain’s highest appellate court, British authorities said today.

A spokesman for Richard Fell, the British High Commissioner in the New Zealand capital of Wellington, who is also governor of Pitcairn, confirmed the Privy Council decision but said authorities still were trying to clarify its “full implications".