A female prison librarian has denied accusations that she sexually assaulting male inmates over an eight month period.

Sharon Mawdsley, 45, is alleged to have molested numerous men at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire where she worked until July 2018.

She denies nine charges in total, three for misconduct in a public office and six for sexually assaulting men.

She entered her not guilty plea at Preston Crown Court yesterday and was granted unconditional bail. She is due to stand trial next year.

Mawdsley, from Blackpool, spoke only to confirm her name and enter not guilty pleas to all nine charges during the brief hearing on Tuesday.

Judge Heather Lloyd granted unconditional bail and set a date for Mawdsley to stand trial next September.

She will appear before the court again in January for a Plea and Direction Hearing and will then have a pre-trial review in July, The Lancashire Evening Post reported.

She had previously appeared at the Preston Magistrates Court on September 8 and was not asked to enter a plea. The district judge granted unconditional bail at that time.

The alleged assaults are said to have happened over an eight month period between December 1, 2017 and July 5, 2018.

Before Mawdsley left in 2018, she was employed by Lanchashire County Council’s library service while working in the Category D prison.