A trial date has been set for a former prison officer accused of non-recent abuse at a juvenile detention centre.

Patrick Devaney, 79, of County Down in Northern Ireland, appeared before Bristol Crown Court on Friday morning.

He is charged with misconduct in a public office while working as a guard at Eastwood Park, a former juvenile detention centre in South Gloucestershire, between June 1970 and August 1983.

Devaney is alleged to have physically assaulted, verbally abused and otherwise mistreated inmates of the prison, as well as encouraging other staff to do so.

He is also charged with failing to intervene when other staff “sexually and physically assaulted, verbally abused and otherwise mistreated inmates”.

Devaney also faces two charges of indecently assaulting a boy aged under 16 in 1974.

Judge Martin Picton adjourned the case for a hearing to take place on December 10 this year.

The judge pencilled in a trial, estimated to take between six and seven weeks, starting from May 9 next year.

He released Devaney, who attended the hearing in person, on unconditional bail.