A FORMER parish council chairman who raped a teenage girl and sexually assaulted boys has been jailed.

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.

READ: Former parish councillor Mark McCormick pleads guilty to raping teenager and other child sex offences >>>

Today, the 49-year-old was jailed for 17 years by Judge Nicholas Rowland.

Judge Rowland said: "Many of your victims were vulnerable, they came from a destructive home and you knew that and took advantage of them. 

"You controlled them and manipulated your victims.

"They were excited about being associated to someone who was living a glamorous lifestyle"

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 was sentence 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.