A Cooloongup man accused of dozens of historical child sex offences has died just weeks before he was due to stand trial.
Christopher James Bartle was charged with 31 offences relating to the alleged rape and indecent dealing of four girls aged between eight and 15, over a period of nine years between 1998 and 2007.
The 66-year-old was due to appear in the Perth District Court on April 17 for a trial hearing after pleading not guilty to all his charges, but The West Australian reports he died in late March.
In the about section on Mr Bartle's flickr account, he wrote that he suffered from an autoimmune disease.
"I am a geek, a retired computer technician, and a camera freak, I no longer shoot professionally in my spare time, I am end stage with an autoimmune disease that has ended a lot of things for me," he wrote.
Bartle also said he photographed hockey matches for the Rockingham Redbacks, UWA Hockey Club and the Western Australian State junior teams.
The West Australian also revealed Mr Bartle was a suspect in the 1997 unsolved murder of schoolboy Gerard Ross in Rockingham.
He was interviewed but never charged.
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