A 44-year-old man appeared at Burnley Crown Court, accused of historical sexual allegations.

Steven Mills, of Belgrave Street, Nelson, is charged with raping a girl under 16 and two counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 against one alleged victim and gross indecency with a girl under 14 and inciting a girl under 14 to commit an act of gross indecency, against a second girl.

He will face a plea and case management hearing on January 12 and a trial is set to be held on April 20. The defendant was bailed on condition he does not communicate with the alleged victims and does not have any unsupervised contact with any person under the age of 16.