British soldier based in barracks in Co Antrim convicted of sexually assaulting a woman

With a jury sworn in at Newry Crown Court and ready to hear the evidence against Robert Politi on Monday, his defence team asked for three of the five charges to be put to the 23-year-old again and he confessed to three counts of sexually assaulting the woman on 21 June last year.

Following his admissions, prosecuting counsel Fiona O’Kane applied for two other charges of rape and sexual assault by penetration to be left on the books.

Politi, originally from the Wirral in north west England but whose address is given as c/o Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, has been in custody since last Autumn as a result of multiple bail breaches and a warrant was issued for his arrest when he was a no show at court.

Previous courts have heard that Politi went AWOL “with a chick” and at one stage, tried to smuggle himself out of the Army barracks in the boot of his own car with a mate behind the wheel.

Remanding Politi back into custody, Judge Gordon Kerr QC ordered the creep to sign the police sex offenders register and ordering a probation pre-sentence in addition to a victim impact statement, he adjourned passing sentence until 4 July.