A FORMER parish council chairman who admitted raping a teenage girl and sexually assaulting five boys is set to be sentenced today.

Mark McCormick, who was the chair of Bursledon Parish Council, previously pleaded guilty to 14 indecent assaults between 1997 and 2011 charged against him at Southampton Crown Court, on the second day of his trial.

These include the rape of a 16-year-old and inciting boys under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity.

The 49-year-old could now face a lengthy custodial sentence.

Last year, McCormick appeared at Southampton Magistrates' Court where he did not enter a plea as the charges were too serious for the court.

McCormick became a prominent figure within Bursledon, but it is understood he stepped down from his public role in 2017, after he was re-elected chairman of the parish council in May 2016.

The parish council last year posted a vacancy for a councillor after McCormick resigned from the post.

In 2016, he was at the forefront of a bitter fight between the parish council and the Bursledon and District Community Association (BDCA) after the parish council were effectively evicted from their offices by the BDCA, which managed the building.

McCormick was also a freelance DJ.

He will be sentenced for one count of rape, three of indecent activity with a child, three counts of multiple incidents of indecent assault on a child, five of indecent assault on a male person, one of sexual assault and one count of taking indecent photographs of a child.

McCormick was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Southampton Crown Court today (Friday, October 12).