A woman came forward to report a group of men who sexually abused her in Banbury as a teen after watching a BBC drama series about girls groomed and raped in Rochdale, a jury was told.

Prosecuting, Alan Gardner KC told Oxford Crown Court yesterday that girls as young as 13 were given cash, alcohol, cigarettes and cannabis by men in their 20s and 30s, and used for sex in properties dotted around Banbury in the early 2000s.

“It was functional sexual activity for the sole benefit of the defendants,” Mr Gardner said, as he opened the prosecution case against two of the men on Tuesday (September 5).

“The complainants were treated as if they were sexual commodities. Ready and available for sex whenever the men wanted it.”

One of the alleged victims, who it is claimed was taken advantage of sexually by four men, was said to have told the police: “I was just a bit of meat to them.”

READ MORE: Oxford fairground folk struggle amid cost-of-living crisis

The sexual abuse, including rape, was said to have taken place at properties in Woodfield, Orchard Close, and Bretch Hill, as well as in at least one of the men’s vehicles. One girl was said to have fallen pregnant, although the pregnancy was terminated.

The girls described being introduced to the men by their classmates.

One of the alleged victims is expected to say she was taken to the home of one of the men, who is not currently on trial and for legal reasons can be named only as AB, by her brother’s girlfriend.

The friend said AB was ‘a bit older and was really cool because he would give them money, alcohol and fags’, the jury heard.

Mr Gardner told jurors that the alleged offending was reported to the police in 2017.

It came after one of the girls, now a woman in her 30s, saw BBC drama Three Girls – a re-telling of the Rochdale child abuse scandal.

“It triggered uncomfortable and unhappy memories for her,” the prosecutor said.

“It prompted her to contact her old friend [also an alleged victim of the Banbury men] to say, in effect, isn’t this what happened to us?” Her friend contacted the police.

READ MORE: Pub could be converted into homes

Two men are currently on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

Samuel Osei-Bempong, 49, of Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, faces allegations of rape against two girls, said by prosecutors to have been between 14 and 15 at the time.

Co-defendant Bashiru Umar, 53, of no fixed address, is accused of indecent assault against a third girl.

Known by the girl as ‘Teddy’ or ‘Bash’, it is alleged he touched her sexually in his bedroom at a property in Orchard Close.

Both men deny that the alleged incidents took place and have pleaded not guilty to the charges they face.

The prosecution’s opening of the case against Osei-Bempong and Bashiru continues.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.