Teen taken to parties with politicians, court hears

A former councillor accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy took him to "private parties" attended by other local politicians, a court has heard.

Rylan Ray, 26, a former member of Peterborough City Council, has denied 25 sexual offences, including one count of rape, four of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three of making indecent images of children.

Ipswich Crown Court was played a police interview with a man who alleged Ray, from Westgate, Peterborough, touched him inappropriately without consent when he was a teenager.

In a statement read by prosecutor Lidia Iancu, the man's mum described Ray as being "well spoken and had his head switched on".

She added that Ray often took her son on days and nights out, where the former councillor would often pay for everything.

She also said Ray took her son to "private parties that were held by a councillor called John Peach".

These were held at Peach's home and were also attended by Ray's "acquaintances from the council", the statement said.

She recalled her son being paid about £50 to help set up one party.

In his police interview, the alleged victim said he and Ray had been "good mates".

He also described being contacted on the messaging app, Snapchat, by an account purporting to be a young woman called Chelsie.

The jury previously heard that many of Ray's alleged victims had been contacted by Chelsie and that the prosecution believed they were in fact talking to Ray.

The man, who was 16 or 17 when he was contacted, said most of his communication with the account was sexual and involved him sending nude images of himself.

When he turned 18, he was contacted by a user on the dating app Tinder using the same name and photographs, he said.

Another man who had communicated with Chelsie on Snapchat told the court he became suspicious and accused Ray of being behind the account.

He said the user had provided a phone number and he later made a phone call to it, which he claimed was answered by Ray.

The offending is alleged to have taken place over a six-year period and involved 11 male complainants, many of whom were army cadets.

Ray volunteered for the youth service in Cambridgeshire as a detachment commander.

He was elected to Peterborough City Council in 2022 and served as a councillor until May.

The trial continues.

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