SEVEN young men accused of sexually exploiting girls are “guinea pigs” in a case manufactured by police and social workers, a jury was told.

Yesterday Michael Magarian QC delivered a closing speech on behalf on his client, Ahmed Hassan-Sule, who is on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

The 20-year-old is one of seven defendants who allegedly sexually abused eight teenage girls in Banbury between 2011 and 2013.

Yesterday Mr Magarian told the jury the trial was a “witch-hunt” and added: “This is a police-manufactured case.”

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He described Operation Bullfinch, which resulted in seven men being jailed for a total of 95 years for child sexual exploitation in Oxford in 2013, as the motivation for bringing the prosecution.

He said: “As a result of Operation Bullfinch the Kingfisher Team, a team of social workers and police officers, was set up to deal with the problem of child sexual exploitation in this area.

“They need results, the Kingfisher Team, and the defendants are the guinea pigs.

“This isn’t a child sexual exploitation case, it couldn’t be further from that.”

Prosecution barrister, Stuart Trimmer QC, said the group was known as “BB or B2” and subjected their victims to a cycle of abuse culminating in some cases in “rape and even gang rape”.

He told the jury in his opening speech the defendants organised “Fiddy Events” at which they identified and targeted their victims.

Defending, Mr Magarian read the written description of one complainant about the “Fiddy Events” organised by Hassan-Sule and his friends.

He said she wrote: “It is like a place where girls would go and the boys would choose their targets.”

Mr Magarian then asked the jury: “Is that original? Or is it something that she has been brainwashed to say?

“Brainwashing was a feature several of these girls spoke about, that the defendants had brainwashed them.

“Or have they been brainwashed by social workers into thinking that this was a group of evil young men?”

The barrister said the motivation for the girls coming forward could be because “it’s better to be a victim than a slag, excuse my language”.

He added: “Once you are a victim who has been groomed you no longer have to take any responsibility for anything that you did.”

The defendants, all from Banbury, are Hassan-Sule, of Glyndebourne Gardens; Said Saleh, 20, of Orchard Way; Mohamed Saleh, 21, of Orchard Way; Takudzwa Hova, 21, of Broughton Road; Kagiso Manase, 26, of Warwick Road; Alexandru Nae, 19, of Broome Way; and a 17-year-old who cannot be named.

They deny a total of 26 charges, including 19 counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.