A WHEELCHAIR-bound man is to face trial by judge and jury accused of raping a young girl and sexually abusing a boy.

Steven Copestick, who is recovering from a brain tumour, is said to have committed the offences against the two children in the 1980s.

The 58-year-old is said to have made the girl touch him when she was aged 12 and raped her between the ages of 12 and 14.

It is alleged that a few years later, he repeatedly made an eight-year-old boy indecently touch him.

Copestick, of Westcott Place, pleaded not guilty to rape and indecent assault and four counts of indecent assault on a male.

The charges relating to the girl are said to have taken place between 1981 and 1983, when he was in his twenties, and the offences on the boy in the autumn of 1987.

Because of his condition and being in a wheelchair, Copestick was not required to enter the dock for the hearing at Swindon Crown Court.

Judge Douglas Field adjourned the case to February 11 when Copestick is to face trial on the charges.

He released him on bail on condition he does not have any contact with witnesses and lives and sleeps at his home address.