Soldier arrested in UK on Cyprus rape charge

A BRITISH soldier who served with the UN in Cyprus has been arrested by military police in Leeds investigating the alleged rape of a servicewoman during his time on the island.

The soldier, identified as Kevin Melia, 27, also faces allegations of at least two indecent assaults and up to 28 indecent exposures in Cyprus.

Melia served with the 380-strong British contingent in Nicosia until he was sent home after a female colleague claimed he had assaulted her within the UN compound.

An investigation was subsequently carried out by the Royal Military Police serving with Unficyp, and the soldier was flown back to the UK in early November 1997.

Military sources said the soldier was first detained in Cyprus on November 3, 1997, shortly after the alleged incident took place.

Lance Bombardier Melia was on a six-month tour in Cyprus, serving with the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery.

He is being detained at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.