A little-known remote British island has a chilling dark history that resulted in nearly a third of the male population going to a custom-made prison.
Pitcairn Island, the only inhabited island of four that make up the British overseas territory called the Pitcairn Islands, is a small volcanic outcrop situated in the South Pacific Ocean.
The nearest inhabited landmasses to Pitcairn are Mangareva (of French Polynesia) just under 700km to the west and Easter Island nearly 2,000km to the east.
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Although it had been inhabited in the past, no one was on the island when Europeans first settled there in the 18th century. They were mutineers from the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty who arrived in 1790, along with Tahitian men and women who were with them.
Visitors arrived on the island throughout the early 19th century and by 1838, when a constitution was drawn up, the Pitcairn Islanders considered themselves British. The island was also decreed a British settlement under the British Settlements Act of 1887.
As of 2021 the population stood at just 47, centred in the capital Adamstown. Most of those people are descended from the Bounty mutineers. The island also has a UK postcode, PCRN 1xx, but uses the New Zealand Dollar as currency.
Although Pitcairn may seem like an idyllic tropical haven, isolated from the stresses of busy life in major cities, in 1999 something horrifying emerged.
Gail Cox, a police officer from Kent, served on a temporary assignment in Pitcairn that year and soon uncovered allegations of sexual abuse against young girls.
Operation Unique was launched when a 15-year-old girl decided to press charges. Police officers from Australia, New Zealand and the UK interviewed every woman who had lived on the island for the past 20 years as well as the accused men.
Neville Tosen, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor who spent two years on Pitcairn at the turn of the millennium, said he was taken aback by the conduct of the children.
He told The Independent: "I noticed worrying signs such as inexplicable mood swings. It took me three months to realise they were being abused.
"I tried to raise the subject at a meeting of the island council, and one gentleman replied: 'Look, the age of consent has always been 12 and it doesn't hurt them.'"
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Tosen also said some of the older women told him it was "all part of life on Pitcairn".
In 2004 a raft of charges were laid against seven men living on Pitcairn, roughly a third of the male population. Six were convicted including Steve Christian, the island's mayor at the time, which led the British government to build a prison on the island.
Over a decade later another former Pitcairn mayor, Michael Warren, was locked up in the same prison after he was found guilty of downloading more than 1,000 child sex abuse images in 2016. He was later also found guilty of public indecency after islanders spotted him wandering around naked.
If you or somebody you know has been affected by this story, contact Victim Support for free, confidential advice on 08 08 16 89 111 or visit their website, www.victimsupport.org.uk.
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