A 47-year-old Ipswich man has appeared in court charged with 29 sex offences against six children.

Leslie Constable, of Hatfield Road, made his first appearance on the allegations before the town’s South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

The charges span a period of 30 years.

In total Constable faces 33 accusations involving sexual-related offences.

They include two rapes and 19 indecent assaults.

Eight further allegations relate to sexual activity with, or in the presence, of a child.

Constable is also accused of three charges of possessing to show/distribute indecent images of a child.

These relate to October 24 last year.

They involve a mobile phone which is alleged to have had around 3,000 images on it, including 966 at Category A – the most serious grading of indecent images of children.

A memory card is said to have had more than 1,100 images on it and a computer tower is alleged to have held a further 41 images.

The final charge involves an allegation of possessing an extreme pornographic image likely to cause serious injury to a person.

Constable’s case was sent to Ipswich Crown Court by District Judge Sandeep Kainth.

A preliminary hearing is due to be held on July 19.

Constable is currently on conditional bail.