AN UNDERAGE girl was not "exploited" by a man who had sex with her because she lied about her age and consented, the Old Bailey heard this morning.

A defence barrister told the jury the complainant had only ever done what she wanted to do.

Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, denies two counts of sexual activity with a child. He is one of nine men accused of sexually exploiting young girls in Oxford.

The alleged victim known as Girl 5 says she had sex with him more than five times in his bedroom in a flat above Simpli Fresh in Cowley Road when she was 13 and 14. But he denies he knew she was underage.

James Mulholland, defending Ahmed, said it was a "significantly different" case than against some of the other men in the dock.

He said: "This is not about exploitation."

And he said Girl 5 did not go to school when she wanted, and she had punched defendant Akhtar Dogar in the face when he asked her for sex.

He said: "This is a girl who does not do what she does not want to do."

He added: "This not a situation of manipulation, of an older man befriending a younger person in a sinister fashion."

The lawyer said Girl 5 was inconsistent and unreliable, adding: "When you examine (Girl 5)'s evidence it makes no sense."

He also said she did not tell Ahmed her real age but said she was older.

And the barrister said his client stopped talking to her when he found out she was 14 Girl 6 claims she had sex with Ahmed while drunk at his home. But Mr Mulholland said his client did not know she was under 16 and questioned whether she had been 16 when it happened.

Mr Mulholland will finish his speech this afternoon before Grahame James, defending Bilal Ahmed, addresses the jury.

The nine defendants deny all the charges. The trial continues.