UK's oldest defendant faces trial aged 101 over child sexual abuse claims

He is charged with 17 counts of indecent assault of a child, 12 counts of gross indecency with a child and two counts of attempted buggery of a child

Centenarian Ralph Clarke leaves court after pleading not guilty to 31 sexual offences committed against children as young as four (PA)

A 101-year-old man thought to be the oldest defendant in British legal history has denied committing a string of historical sexual offences.

Ralph Clarke, a former lorry driver from Birmingham, is accused of assaulting three children between the years of 1974 and 1983. His alleged victims were aged between four and 13.

The centenarian grasped a walking stick as he stood in court on Monday 6 June to plead "not guilty" to all 31 charges.

Wearing a hearing aid, he struggled to hear some of Judge Murray Creed's questions, and asked "can I go outside now?" as the 40-minute hearing drew to a close.

He is charged with 17 counts of indecent assault of a child, 12 counts of gross indecency with a child and two counts of attempted buggery of a child.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place in Clarke's garage, in his workshop and in the cab of his lorry.

If convicted and sentenced to a spell in prison, he would become the country's oldest prisoner, outstripping Gaston Pinsard.

Pinsard was 96 when he was handed an 18-month jail sentence in 2015 for sexually abusing two girls over 50 years ago, first targeting his victims when they were five years old.

The oldest prisoner whose age can be reliably confirmed is Hindu priest Brij Bihari Pandey, who was released from an Indian prison at the age of 108 in 2008.

In 1987, Pandey and a group of conspirators killed four men in a quarrel over the appointment of a rival as a village priest. He had served two years of a sentence for murder, following a trial which dragged on for two decades.

Having entered his not guilty plea, Clarke was allowed to leave the court on unconditional bail. His trial will commence on 5 December.