regex replace

Hi
I'm trying to remove bullet points  from an HTML field using ...............
ltrim(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(aa.value,'<li>',''),'</li>','<br>'),'<ul>',''),'</ul>',''))  

However, I'm still getting some whitespace at the beginning of each line in my text field where the next bullet point was - how can I remove this - if possible?

FYI - I am using this field in Crystal Reports where I can see this leading whitespace eg

This was the first bullet point and nicely aligned to the left.
 This was the second bullet point and NOT nicely aligned to the left.
 This was the third bullet point and NOT nicely aligned to the left ..etc
Regards