A MAN has appeared before York Crown Court charged with attempting to rob a taxi driver at gunpoint.

Mark Anthony Ainsley, 27, is alleged to have robbed or tried to rob five people on two different dates.

All the robberies or attempted robberies are alleged to have occurred within a few streets of each other.

Ainsley, of Wilberforce Avenue, Clifton, has yet to enter pleas to any of the six charges he faces.

He appeared via video link from the prison where he is remanded for a pre-trial hearing before the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC.

At the end of the half-hour hearing, his case was adjourned for trial at the same court, starting on November 13.

Ainsley is alleged to have tried to rob the taxi driver on Bootham on May 14. He is also charged with having a BB gun with him during the attempted robbery.

He faces a second charge of attempted robbery relating to another incident on the same day at the junction of Clifton and Burtonstone Lane.

Ainsley also faces three charges for offences alleged to have occurred on May 5.

He is accused of robbing one man and attempting to rob a second on Newborough Street, and of attempting to rob a third man on Grosvenor Terrace, all on the earlier date.

Ainsley was remanded in custody until his trial date. He was not asked to enter his pleas.