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A 15-year-old boy charged with sexual offences against eight girls, including one who was 10 years old, has appeared in court.
The complainants were aged between 10 and 15 at the time, Wellingborough Youth Court heard.
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, faces 22 charges relating to alleged incidents between 2023 and 2025, including rape.
He was not asked to enter any pleas during a 20-minute hearing, before the case was sent to Northampton Crown Court for 18 August.
The defendant, who was accompanied by his mother, was released on bail.
Details of where the offences took place have been withheld to protect the alleged victims' right to anonymity.
The boy has been charged with:
Twelve counts of sexually assaulting a female
Three offences of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching
Two counts of rape and a further two of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child
Assaulting a female by penetration
Possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image or images
District Judge Amar Mehta told the boy: "Your case is too serious to be tried in this court."
His bail conditions included not to contact the alleged victims and to have no unsupervised contact with females under 16.
The boy spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address. He also asked the judge to explain what the Youth Justice Service was.
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