A FORMER parish council chairman has appeared in court charged with 25 child sex offences.

Mark McCormick, who was the chair of Bursledon Parish Council, is alleged to have carried out a string of indecent offences between 1997 and 2014.

At Southampton Magistrates' Court, McCormick did not enter a plea to the allegations but spoke to confirm his name, address, date of birth.

The court heard that McCormick, 48, faced numerous charges, including allegations of indecently assaulting girls and boys under the age of 16, as well as allegedly intentionally touching a boy aged between 13 and 15 on three occasions.

Representing McCormick, Eve Shelley offered no representation, but said that "clearly the matters must be sent to crown court".

McCormick became a prominent figure within Bursledon, but it is understood he stepped down from his public role in the last year, after he was re-elected chairman of the parish council in May 2016.

The parish council last month posted a vacancy for a councillor after McCormick resigned from the post.

Last year he was at the forefront of a bitter fight between the parish council and the Bursledon and District Community Association (BDCA) after the parish council were effectively evicted from their offices by the BDCA, which managed the building.

McCormick is also listed as one of the DJs and presenters working for the Southampton-based company Avenue Artistes Limited.

Magistrates granted McCormick conditional bail. He is not allowed to contact any of his alleged victims or have unsupervised contact with a child under the age of 16.

McCormick, of no fixed abode, will next appear at Southampton Crown Court.