FORMER Freeminer, and Forest poet, Dave Harvey, appeared in court in Gloucester last Friday, to face 10 charges of sexual assault.

Appearing under his real name of Charles Harvey, he faced eight charges relating to indecently assauting a girl under 14, between 1972 and 1976. He additionally faced another similar charge against another girl, with is said to have happened between 2001 and 2004. Finally, he faces a charge of sexual assault on a woman, between September and November 2013.

Mr Harvey, of Woodland Rise, Lydney, entered no plea, and the case is set to be returned to court on February 19, when their will be a case management hearing.

The case itself is set to be heard on April 26 next year.

Mr Harvey, 77, has two statues of himself in the district, with one in The Triangle in Cinderford, depicting him as a freeminer, complete with helmet, coal wagon and pick, while the other shows him as a child, escaping from a pit rockfall, which is at Camp Mill, Soudley.

He worked in several collieries in the Forest area, ending his career at Bigslade Colliery when it closed in 1978.