A MAN whose body was found after he went missing had been due to appear in court to face charges regarding sexual offences against children.

Richard Saunders, aged 57, of The Close, Wyre Piddle, Pershore, had appeared before Coventry magistrates in September charged with a number of sexual offences including rape of a girl under 13. He was also charged with indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14, attempting to rape a girl, and sexual activity with a teenage boy.

Those matters, which were all alleged to have taken place in the early 2000s, were sent to the crown court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on October 21, but the day before the hearing was due to take place, it was put back to November 9 after Saunders was charged with further alleged offences dating back to the 1970s and 80s.

They included charges of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14 and inciting her to commit an act of gross indecency with him, for which he appeared before magistrates on October 10.

Saunders disappeared from his home on October 19, having left in his blue Volvo. That sparked a major appeal to find him because of police concerns for his safety.

The following day his body was found in the Briardene area of Whitley Bay in Northumbria, where he is believed to have taken his own life.

Prosecutor Adam Western told Warwick Crown Court: “This defendant died on the 20th of October. He had been sent here for non-recent serious sexual abuse. The case had been listed for a hearing on the 21st of October, and he died the day before.

“An interim death certificate has been provided by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service, so I would invite Your Honour to endorse the indictment.”

Judge Barry Berlin declared: “So done.”