Prosecutors are preparing to file charges in connection with a sexual abuse scandal on the remote Pacific island of Pitcairn.

Police first began investigating Pitcairn - the home to descendants of sailors who staged the famous mutiny on the British warship Bounty - 10 months ago, after an alleged rape in December 1999.

Since then New Zealand media have reported that there have been a number of complaints concerning child abuse on the island, a British protectorate which is home to just 46 people.

But charges cannot be formally laid until a venue for the court case has been decided, according to a British High Commission spokesman in New Zealand.

Venue difficulties

The isolation of Pitcairn - it takes eight days to reach the island by ship from New Zealand - makes it unlikely that the trial will be held there.

Pitcairn

Home to 46 residents Lies halfway between New Zealand and Peru Language is mix of 18th century English and Polynesian Alcohol is still technically banned

British prosecutors have asked that the trial take place in New Zealand, where many of the alleged offenders now live, according to Associated Press news agency.

However, special parliamentary approval in New Zealand would be required for this, and that could not occur until after a new government is formed, following a general election later this month.

The decision on the venue will be made by British High Commissioner Richard Fell, who is also Pitcairn Island's governor.

"There is no decision on a venue at this stage," said his spokesman, Bryan Nicolson.

"There are no decisions (yet) on the number of prosecutions, the number of charges to be laid, or when."

He dismissed as "speculation" recent New Zealand media reports that about 20 present and former Pitcairn residents will face trial for sexually abusing girls as young as 12.

Isolated outpost

If the trial is held on Pitcairn, it will only be the second for the territory.

The last was 105 years ago, when Harry Albert Christian, a descendant of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, was hanged in Fiji after being convicted on Pitcairn of killing his wife and child.

Pitcairn is mostly populated by descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the accompanying Polynesians, who landed on the island in 1790, a year after the mutiny.

The island has a struggling economy, and attempts to attract tourism are hindered by the isolation of Pitcairn, whose rocky topography makes it extremely difficult to build an airstrip.