A 40-year-old man who was arrested in Spain following a Crimewatch appeal has appeared in court accused of sexual offences against children.

Glen Tranter appeared before Burnley magistrates accused of nine allegations of sexual assault on girls under 16.

The defendant, of no fixed address, but formerly of Keighley Road, Colne, is alleged to have assaulted three girls between January 1992 and June 2009.

He was remanded in custody to the Hyndburn video link court on Tuesday and now faces committal proceedings to Burnley Crown Court on May 25.

Tranter did not indicate any pleas to the allegations. He was detained in a bar in Benalmadena after local ex-pats recognised him on the BBC1 programme last month.

Part-time barmaid Michelle Mackenzie, 37, from Bracknell, made a ‘citizen’s arrest’ on the defendant.

She said she lured him to Sizzles, a bar popular with fellow Brits, at Arroyo del Miel, by calling Tranter and saying she needed his taxi service.

But she also called two friends to join her and when he arrived at the bar he was ambushed.

Tranter had been on the run since last summer when he was bailed by police and then failed to attend court.