A man declared legallly dead appeared in court, accused of a series of sex attacks on a 10-year-old girl. Relatives and friends, including his wife, believed Leslie Andrews, 53, had drowned eight years ago, after police discovered his abandoned car. The vehicle was found along with a pile of clothing and a suicide note near the beach at Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, in 2002.
After being missing for seven years, presumed drowned, the former restaurant manager from Blackpool was declared legally dead in June 2009. But exactly a year later Andrews was arrested in West Yorkshire following an unrelated incident, where a fingerprint examination alerted police to his true identity.
The married 53-year-old, formerly of Hatchett Road, Manchester, appeared before magistrates in Blackpool, accused of three assaults on a girl in 2002. The court heard how Andrews staged the apparent suicide, before leaving the area to start a new life under an alias, Leslie Trent. "Trent" had been working in the catering industry in a number of towns around Britain since his disappearance.
Speaking on Andrews' behalf, lawyer Robert Castle told the court his client denied the offences. However magistrates refused to grant bail, and the case was referred to Preston Crown Court for trial, on a date yet to be fixed.
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