A WOMAN has told the Old Bailey how her sister began to go missing and self-harm while mixing with men accused of running a child exploitation ring.

The elder sister of the unnamed complainant known as Girl 5 told the Oxford trial her sibling changed from a “normal girl” to someone who would go missing and return with bite marks on her face.

She said her sister became “upset” and “emotional” on a family holiday and told her she had been hanging around with “Asian boys”. She said she saw self-harm marks on her arm too.

Girl 5 claims she had sex between the ages of 12 and 14 with Assad and Mohammed Hussain and Zeeshan and Billal Ahmed.

Only Bilal Ahmed has denied having sex with the girl. The others say they did not know her age.

Giving evidence from behind a curtain, the witness said while sharing a room on holiday her sister told her she had been with Mohammed “Tayab” Hussain.

And she told the jury “Tayab” would have known how old her “little sister” was.

The court heard Hussain had known the witness while her mother was pregnant with Girl 5.

The sister said: “She said she used to see him and he used to hang around with her. He was nice, he used to put his coat around her and things like that.”

She told her sister she should not be hanging around with “Tayab” as he was much older.

The witness also told the jury her sister had changed and become “disrespectful” to their mum.

She said: “She was definitely different. She never used to come home. She used to run away. She used to come back with bite marks on her face.”

Eleanor Laws, defending Mohammed Hussain, asked the witness if she ever told her client how old her sister was.

But she said he knew, adding: “I didn’t need to tell him.”

A police officer also told the court she took Girl 5’s underwear for forensic tests on two occasions.

In June 2011, DC Alexandra Gill visited the girl’s home after her mother told social services she had been missing overnight and returned with marks on her face.

DC Gill said the girl had a “fading bite mark” on her neck and a graze on her cheek.

But she said the teen appeared “disinterested” and did not want to answer questions. Yet she said: “She said she hadn’t been hurt or made to do anything she didn’t want to do.”

In December 2011, care workers gathered Girl 5’s underwear and gave them to DC Gill after she returned from being missing.

Janet Manners, a scientist at LGC Forensics in Culham, told the court a thong she examined in June 2011 tested positive for semen from Zeeshan Ahmed.

She said the “full” DNA match meant there was a less than a one in one billion probability the sample came from someone unrelated to the defendant.

She said semen found in the girl’s underwear from December 2011 also had a less than one in a billion chance of not being from Assad Hussain. And DNA found in the thong matching Mohammed Hussain's had a one in a 9.2 million probability of not coming from him or someone related to him.

The nine defendants deny all charges against them.

The trial continues.

THE DEFENDANTS

Kamar Jamil, 27, of Aldrich Road, Summertown, Oxford, denies four rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and one of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Akhtar Dogar, 32, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies six rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, three of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Assad Hussain, 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, denies two charges of conspiracy to rape and three of sexual activity with a child.
Anjum Dogar, 31, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies four rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, three of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, denies seven rapes, four charges of conspiracy to rape, an alternative charge of conspiracy to commit sexual activity with a child, two of trafficking for sexual exploitation, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, assault, conspiracy to assault, using an instrument to procure a miscarriage, and supplying a Class A drug.
Bassam Karrar, 33, Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two charges of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and conspiracy to assault.
Mohammed Hussain, 24, of Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, denies rape, conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, of Palmer Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, denies two charges of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
Bilal Ahmed, 26, of Suffolk Road, Maidenhead, denies conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and sexual activity with a child.