A DEPRAVED child grooming gang who preyed on a schoolgirl in Oxford, raping and sexually abusing her, have been jailed for a total of 49 years.

The victim of the abuse said that the horrifying ordeal had 'destroyed' her life.

In a victim personal statement read out at court today she said the repeated rapes and assaults had 'ruined any chance I had at a normal life' and led to a crippling descent into drug misuse.

Naim Khan, 41, of Herschel Crescent, Mohammed Nazir, 44, of Wood Farm Road and Raheem Ahmed, 42, of Startwort Path were all convicted last month following a trial which began in October.

During the major trial into child sexual exploitation - the third in a series of linked cases involving multiple victims and defendants - prosecutors said that some of the men groomed one victim and repeatedly raped and ‘pimped' her out for sex.

Prosecutors said that the girl was treated as a 'sexual commodity' and subjected to repeated rapes and sexual assaults.

Sentencing the three men at Oxford Crown Court today presiding Judge Peter Ross said: "By the use of cannabis, alcohol, she and [another victim] were sucked into the vortex that was this grooming gang.

"This group of young men, preyed upon vulnerable, young teenage girls.

"[They were] given a sense of belonging, a sense of esteem and sense of adulthood.

"Drugs, alcohol, flattery, pretence of romance, were all used to generate a sense of esteem and sense of adulthood.

"They came to feel that the sexual abuse perpetrated on them was normal."

During the two-month long trial prosecutors told jurors that the offences took place between 1999 and 2001 in Oxford.

Detailing the extent of the abuse prosecutor Alan Gardner said the victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was ‘vulnerable.’

He said: "Naim Khan, the prosecution say, began to pimp her out to other Asian males, made her sexually available to other men in return for payment."

That girl – now a woman – was aged between 14 and 15 - at the time of the offences.

Mr Gardner told jurors: “She was routinely sexually exploited over a period of time by numerous men [...] to whom she was made available for sex.”

That same victim endured several hours of cross examination during her trial in which her account was tested at court by defence barristers representing the accused men.

At the sentencing hearing today the woman watched from a remote location via videolink as her victim personal statement was read out.

In that statement she said: "I felt disgusted by what those men did to me and I just didn't want it to come out and for anyone to know.

"By the time I got to my 30s it just became too much for me, I started using drugs to cope.

"Those men have destroyed my life up to now, they even forced me to go to court in front of strangers to tell what had happened to me.

"I was even called a liar."

During mitigation defence barristers representing the three men said of elements of the victim statement that 'it was a lay persons diagnosis' and another said it should be treated with scepticism.

Sentencing, Judge Ross said that the victim had suffered 'severe psychological damage' as a result of the abuse she had suffered as a child.

Ultimately, Khan was jailed for a total of 24 years, Nazir was jailed for 20 years and Ahmed five years.

Today's sentencing hearing comes as the final part of a major investigation into child sexual exploitation across the city named Operation Silk, which involved three separate trials.

In total, 13 men have now been convicted for offences which have included rape, sexual assault and drug supply.

They have received a total of 186 years and three months’ prison, with four life sentences.

Speaking after today's sentencing principal investigator Mark Glover welcomed the jail terms.

He said: "I would like to thank the victims, whose bravery, commitment and resilience throughout this entire traumatic process has been nothing short of extraordinary.

"The abuse to which they were subjected to by these men was horrendous and sadistic.

"They were targeted because they were vulnerable and groomed to the point where they did not believe that what was happening to them was wrong.

"I hope they all know what a crucial part they have played in bringing to justice the men who subjected them to such vile abuse for such a long time."

The convictions in full:

-Khan was convicted of eight counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of supplying a class B drug.

-Nazir was convicted of seven counts of rape, eight counts of indecent assault and one count of supplying a class B drug.

-Ahmed was convicted of two counts of indecent assault and one count of supplying a class B drug.