Ex-councillor guilty of sex crimes against cadets
Peterborough City CouncilA former city councillor has been convicted of sexual offences, many involving boys he had instructed as an Army cadet leader.
After 11 hours of deliberations, a jury at Ipswich Crown Court found Rylan Ray guilty of 23 crimes including the rape of a man he met on a night out.
The case involved 11 male complainants, many of them teenagers the former Conservative politician had met through his role with the Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force.
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, 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 rape
- One count of sexual activity with a child
- One count of possessing an extreme pornographic image
Ray looked straight ahead and displayed no emotion as the forewoman of the jury read the first 22 guilty verdicts, which were unanimous. His mum cried in the public gallery.
When the jury returned later to return a guilty verdict for the charge of rape, on a majority verdict of 11 to one, Ray refused to return to the dock.
He has been convicted of 28 offences in total, having 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.
His offending took place over a six-year period.
Ray will be sentenced 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.
Ray 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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