LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- British police have arrested and charged an elderly man living in Australia with a series of sixteen sex attacks against young children between 1949 and 1971, officials said on Wednesday.

Scotland Yard said 77-year-old Reginald Davis of Wanneroo, a suburb of Perth in Western Australia, is in custody and due to appear in City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London later on Wednesday. He faces charges in connection with multiple rapes and other sex attacks against young children.

The offenses allegedly took place in London between April 1949 when Davis was 15 and November 1971, when Davis reportedly moved to Australia. It was not immediately clear when or why he returned to the United Kingdom and if he is a British or Australian citizen.

Davis has been charged with four counts of rape of a child under the age of 12, three counts of attempted rape of a child under 12, one count of indecent assault of a child under 13, six counts of indecent assault of a child under 14, one count of indecent assault of a child under 15, and one count of inciting a child under 12 to commit an act of gross indecency.

Other details were not immediately released.