Notorious Liverpool gangster Stephen French will appear in today on two charges of rape.
French is currently in custody, and today’s appearance at Liverpool Magistrates Court is set to form part of a longer trial for the former champion kickboxer.
The 56-year-old is charged with two counts of rape, one count of assault of a woman on separate occasions.
He also faces a charge of threatening to kill a man in relation a strong of other alleged offences.
French was jailed for three years in 2013 for pistol whipping a man, before disposing of the gun into the River Mersey.
Mr French was a notorious gangster in Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, earning himself the nickname ‘The Devil’ for his violent temper, however has in recent years campaigned as a anti-gun activist.