The director of an international sporting organisation has pleaded not guilty to a series of sexual assaults on boys in Crediton and Okehampton.

David Knight, aged 55, is accused of 12 offences against three different boys between 1998 and 2006.

He denied all charges when he appeared before Judge John Neligan at Exeter Crown Court and the cases were adjourned to a trial date next April.

Knight, of Station Road , Okehampton, is accused of three charges of gross indecency with a boy aged under 14 at Crediton between 1998 and 2000.

He is also accused of causing an eight-year-old boy to engage in sexual activity at Okehampton between July and September 2004 and of raping the same boy, also in Okehampton.

He is further charged with sexual touching of an 11-year-old boy at Okehampton between 2005 and 2006.

Knight, a former foster carer, is director of the International Sporting Organisation which has run youth football tours around the world.