UK man, 101, charged on 29 child offences

A 101-year-old man thought to be the oldest defendant in British legal history has appeared in court charged with a string of historical child sex offences.

Ralph Clarke, who was born in March 1915, was granted unconditional bail after a brief hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.

The pensioner was not asked to enter formal pleas to a total of 29 offences alleged to have been committed against three children between 1974 and 1983.

Magistrates ordered Clarke, of Erdington, Birmingham, to appear at the city's Crown Court for a plea hearing on June 6.

Prosecutors have charged Clarke with 15 counts of indecent assault, two of inciting a girl to commit an act of gross indecency, 10 allegations of gross indecency and two of attempting to commit another sexual offence.