Colin Duriez: BBC star who featured on Worlds of Fantasy series charged with historic child sex offences

Colin Duriez, 77, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, faces three counts of indecent assault on a girl aged under 16. He will stand trial at Leicester Crown Court in July after being charged with the assaults between 1989 and 1991.

Duriez is an expert on fantasy literature and has appeared on the BBC's Worlds of Fantasy series and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings DVD. He has written books about the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien and Chronicles of Narnia writer CS Lewis. Duriez lives with his second wife – author Cindy Zudys – and previously lived in Leicestershire and Keswick, Cumbria.

Leicestershire Police said in a statement: “Colin Duriez has has been charged with three counts of sexual assault on a girl under the age of 16 between September 1989 and July 1991.” A spokesperson for Leicester Crown Court added: “I confirm that Colin Duriez is charged with three counts of indecent assault of a girl aged under 16, for trial on July 14.”

Duriez, who has also worked as a tutor at Lancaster University, is thought to have an interest in Christian groups and has focused his studies on Christian authors including Tolkien and CS Lewis. Last year Duriez appeared on YouTube to speak about how his passion for literature was born.

He said: “It all started when I was at school and we were reading CS Lewis' book Mere Christianity. It was through him that I came across Tolkien. I went to the University of Istanbul for two years and that's where I read Lord of the Rings.”