A NEWPORT man accused of raping a teenage girl in the city appeared in court yesterday.

Robert Alan McMullin, 61, of Meon Close, Bettws, was in Newport Crown Court charged with rape and false imprisonment of an 18-year-old girl on May 26. McMullin, spoke only to confirm his name in a brief hearing to outline the next stage in the case.

No pleas were entered and McMullin was remanded in custody until August 5 when he will be back in court for a plea and case management hearing.

The charges relate to an incident in the early hours when an 18-year-old woman from Newport alleges she was seriously sexually assaulted in the Nash area after being picked up in the city centre.