A 55-year-old man from Worcester has appeared in court charged with multiple sexual offences against four children.

Royston Gill did not formally enter pleas to the 11 charges he faces when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court today (Thursday).

Gill of Rose Avenue, Tolladine, Worcester faces three charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, six counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16 and two of inciting a girl under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency. The offences are alleged to have been committed against four different complainants, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, between 1996 and 2001.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place between September 13, 1996 and September 13, 2000 and between September 13, 1996 and November 19, 2001 in relation to the first complainant (three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, three indecent assaults and one of inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency).

In relation to the second complainant an offence of indecent assault is alleged to have been committed by Gill between September 13, 1996 and November 19, 2001.

In relation to the third complainant, Gill is accused of two indecent assaults between December 15, 1996 and December 16, 1997 .

In relation to the fourth complainant, Gill is alleged to have incited a girl under the age of 14 to commit an act of gross indecency between November 19, 1999 and November 19, 2001.

Mark Hambling, prosecuting, told magistrates: "These matters are indictable only and therefore, with respect, you cannot deal with those."

The defendant's solicitor, Sarah Brady, made no representations at the hearing.

Magistrates declined jurisdiction for the case, telling the defendant the case was 'outside our powers', and it was adjourned for a further hearing at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, July 29.

Gill was granted bail on condition that he does not contact complainants or prosecution witnesses directly or indirectly (a list of names was provided to him) and does not have any unsupervised contact with any child under 16.