A 71-YEAR-OLD York man extradited from Spain to face charges of abusing three children in the 1970s and 1980s has died.

Dennis Batty of Vesper Walk, Huntington was charged with three charges of indecent assault and one of gross indecency after he landed in the UK earlier this year.

He appeared before York Magistrates Court on March 28 and was sent to York Crown Court where he was due to have a plea and trial preparation hearing on April 23.

He was expected to deny the charges but the hearing was cancelled and he never appeared before the higher court.

On Monday Martin Sharpe, for the prosecution, told Judge Andrew Stubbs QC the CPS was sure Batty was dead because a lawyer had seen his death certificate. The cause of death was not announced in court.

As is normal when a defendant dies while facing charges, the judge ordered the case to be listed as stayed, but capable of being restarted if in the future, it emerged that the death was faked.

North Yorkshire Police and the CPS successfully applied for a European arrest warrant against Batty in September 2017. At the time, he was believed to be living in Alicante.

In February, the National Crime Agency confirmed he had been arrested in Spain. In March, after appearances before a Spanish court, Batty arrived in the UK.

He was charged with two allegations of indecently assaulting and one of gross indecency with a boy and indecently assaulting two girls but was not expected to enter a plea until he appeared before the crown court.

He was granted bail on condition he lived at his Huntington address, didn’t apply for a passport, reported twice a week to Fulford Road Police Station and had no unsupervised contact with children