Following a mistrial being declared in late 2024, former mayor of Woodstock Trevor Birtch was set to go on trial again on the same charges this week in a London courtroom. Instead, he showed up with his new lawyer after his previous one was disbarred and Birtch pled guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of assault. This case stems from an incident at a south London hotel on Valentine’s Day in February 2021 involving a woman he had an intimate relationship with. In an agreed statement of facts, Crown Attorney Artem Orlov told the court that when the woman refused to engage in sexual activity with him, “Mr. Birtch kicked her off the bed...he then pulled the victim out of the bed and onto the ground by her hair and she slept on the floor.” In this case, Birtch is expected to be sentenced on June 16. Over the past five years Birtch has been in an out of court facing several different charges. On May 18 he is expected to be back in court to be sentenced in another sexual assault case involving a different woman after being found guilty on two counts. The Crown in that case is asking that he receive a prison sentence. Also last year in a Woodstock courtroom, Birtch pled guilty to impaired driving following a crash in Oxford County in 2023. The women involved in the sexual assault cases cannot be identified due to a publication ban. For now, Birtch remains out of custody.
