A RETIRED Church of England priest is to stand trial after pleading not guilty to a string of sex attacks on 18 girls and boys dating back 50 years.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, is accused of committing 38 offences over an 11-year period between 1962 and 1973.

Today he attended Lewes Crown Court and denied 36 counts of indecent assault and two counts of attempted rape which are alleged to have taken place in Crawley, West Sussex, Middle Wallop, Hampshire, and Barkingside, Essex.

Rideout, of Filching Close, Wannock, Polegate, East Sussex, will face a trial lasting up to eight weeks either at Lewes Crown Court or the Old Bailey.

He was charged in June following a nine-month inquiry by Sussex Police detectives into allegations of child sex abuse in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Rideout, dressed in a dark suit and navy tie, was remanded on conditional bail by Judge Richard Hayward.