AN alleged child rapist and a Worcester man accused of possessing indecent images of children and pig sex were cases heard at court this week.

Michael Birdie faced two charges of raping a girl under 13 and three of assaulting a girl by touching when he appeared before city magistrates on Tuesday. The 74-year-old of Bondfield Avenue, Northampton is accused of committing the offences in Alvechurch between April 19, 2017 and April 21, 2019. Magistrates declined jurisdiction for the case and it will next be heard at Worcester Crown Court on May 12.

Bail conditions include no contact with named witnesses. Birdie must not to have unsupervised contact with children under 16 save for what is unavoidable in the ordinary course of daily life.

Christopher Robinson, 32, of Stanhope Court, Worcester did not indicate a plea to two charges when he appeared on Thursday - possessing indecent photographs of a child on May 18 last year and possessing an extreme pornographic image, namely two videos, one of which showed a person performing an act of sexual intercourse with a pig which was ‘grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character’ on October 23 last year. The images of children were placed in category A which is considered the most serious kind involving the rape and sexual abuse of children.

A total of six category A images were said to have been found.

The defendant spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address and that he did not intend to enter a plea at this stage of the proceedings.

Both offences are ‘either-way offences’ which means they can be heard at either crown court or magistrates court as opposed to indictable-only matters which can only be heard at crown. Mark Hambling, prosecuting, said a laptop and mobile phone had been seized during the investigation and were being forensically analysed. He said: “The Crown would say these matters should be heard at the crown court.”

Mark Turnbull, defending, was also of this view, adding: “Regrettably, I'm with my friend in terms of where it sits in the guidelines.”

Magistrates declined jurisdiction and a date was set at Worcester Crown Court of May 13. Robinson must live and sleep at the address provided to the court and must have no unsupervised contact with children under 16 as part of his bail conditions.