A 34-year-old Portishead man has this week appeared in court accused of eight rape offences against a woman.

Ian Trappett, of Paper Mill Gardens, appeared at North Somerset Courthouse on February 23 to face the rape charges, along with two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and three counts of assaulting a woman by penetration.

Trappett did not speak during the hearing or make a plea, but his defence team indicated he would plead not guilty when the case goes to Bristol Crown Court.

He was given conditional bail by magistrates until his hearing in Bristol on March 24.

All the offences Trappett is accused of are said to have taken place before 2015.