A former Plymouth-based criminal defence solicitor has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges - including rape and sexual assaults - on a number of alleged victims over a 27-year-period.

Alan Harris, now aged 71 and from Thorn Park in Plymouth, is set to stand trial at Winchester Crown Court this week having previously pleaded not guilty in October 2024 to 21 charges.

He was previously summonsed to Plymouth Magistrates' Court, but the case has been moved a number of times, first to Bristol Crown Court then out of the Western Circuit to Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire.

Harris was a well-known Plymouth defence solicitor who represented a large number of defendants when he practised law at his firm, which was based at short distance from Plymouth Magistrates' Court in St Andrews Street.

The

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