THE Nanford Guest House was used by the child sex gang as a place to take the underage girls for sex, the Old Bailey heard.

Girl 3 was raped at the budget hotel, in Iffley Road, by Bassam Karrar, and Girl 1 said the gang once paid a man at the Nanford to “turn a blind eye”.

Neighbouring guest house owners said they often saw young girls near the Nanford Guest House.

One manager, who did not want to be named, said: “You don’t have to be here long and you start hearing about the place.”

Two social services cases were sent to the guest house during the period covered by Bullfinch, Oxfordshire County Council has confirmed.

The council said these were “exceptions”, adding: “The council does not place people in the Nanford Guest House.”

The Nanford was also named in a 1982 police sting, known as Operation Major, which saw 286 people arrested at once for fiddling social security.

People were flocking from all over the country after hearing they could claim for bed and breakfast – including at the Nanford – but then sleep rough.

Nanford Guest House owner Jeremiah Cronin was fined £10,500 after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences at Oxford Magistrates’ Court in 2004.

The guest house was also voted the “dirtiest hotel” in the country following a survey of travellers by website TripAdvisor in 2008.

A man who answered the phone at the Nanford Guest House last night said “no comment”.

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