Ex-councillor guilty of sex crimes against cadets
Peterborough City CouncilA former city councillor has been convicted of child sexual offences, many involving boys he had instructed as an army cadet leader.
A jury at Ipswich Crown Court found Rylan Ray guilty of 22 crimes including sexual assault and sexual activity with a child. He had already admitted five further offences at an earlier hearing.
The case involved teenagers the former Conservative politician had met through his role with the Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force and took place over a six-year period.
Jurors heard how the 26-year-old, of Westgate, Peterborough, used social media apps such as Snapchat to groom the boys.
The jury, made up of four men and eight women, unanimously found Ray guilty of:
- Five counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act
- Five counts of sexual communication with a child
- Four counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
- Three counts of sexual assault
- Three counts of making indecent photographs of children
- One count of sexual activity with a child
- One count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.
The jurors are continuing to deliberate on one count of rape.
Ray had already pleaded guilty to five offences against one teenage boy. They are two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two of making indecent photographs of a child, and one of causing a child to watch a sexual activity.
Ray will be sentenced for all 27 offences at the same court on 8 January.
During the trial, he was cleared of one count of possession of prohibited images of children and another of causing a child to watch a sexual act, because of a lack of evidence.
Ray was elected to represent Eye, Thorney and Newborough on Peterborough City Council in May 2022.
He was removed from the Conservative group in February and continued to sit as an independent councillor until May's local election, when he did not contest his seat.
He also previously worked for HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the Ministry of Justice, and at two schools in the Peterborough area.
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