TRIAL dates have been set for three men accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.

At Bolton Crown Court, sitting at Manchester Crown Court, one of the men appeared via videolink from HMP Forest Bank.

Shahzad Khan, 43, of First Avenue, Little Lever, denies a single count of raping the girl in 2006.

He spoke only to confirm his name.

Judge Graeme Smith set a trail date for November 2, 2020, to take place at Bolton Crown Court.

Also standing trial on the same date will be Nasar Ahmed, 41, of The Pungle, Westhoughton.

Ahmed is accused of two counts of raping the girl, possessing a shotgun and falsely imprisoning the child.

A third man, Majid Altaf, 41, of Kingsland Avenue, Farnworth, has been charged with six counts of raping the same girl and arranging or facilitating sexual activity with a child.

He will stand trial at Bolton Crown Court on November 16, 2020.

Both Altaf and Ahmed are currently serving bail on condition that each lives at his home address.

They must have no contact with the victim and surrender any travel documents and passports.

They must have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Khan remains in custody.