EIGHT of the nine men charged with operating a child sex ring in Oxford yesterday said they would deny the charges.

The men, who currently face more than 50 charges relating to six different girls, appeared at the Old Bailey in London yesterday.

They were arrested as part of Operation Bullfinch , which began with raids across Oxford in March.

The men were set to enter pleas yesterday but this was postponed for a month due to ongoing investigations.

However, barristers representing eight of the nine defendants indicated a trial would be necessary.

The other defendant’s case has yet to be considered by his lawyer.

A provisional trial date of September 26, set down at the preliminary hearing in June, was scrapped and a new date of January 14 agreed.

The delay is largely down to the recent charging of three more men, in addition to the six who appeared at court in June.

Judge Peter Rook said yesterday: “It looks likely there will be a trial of at least eight defendants, in which case we’ve got to consider how long such a trial is going to be and the earliest it can reasonably start.”

Reflecting the views of defence barristers, Peter Du Feu said: “In respect of my client Kamar Jamil it’s not going to be ready at the end of September and we recognise that January is much more realistic.”

Judge Rook said: “At the very least, this will be a trial of eight defendants, a trial of some complexity involving six complainants. Realistically today all parties agree that the date in September was not a date by which all parties could be ready.

“This case, once having a time estimate of six weeks, now has a time estimate of between eight weeks and three months.”

Prosecutor Neil Moore said the collation of evidence was still ongoing, with phone records, scientific evidence and psychologists’ reports into the alleged victims still to be served on the defence.

Mr Moore said social services’ files on the alleged victims were also still being looked through. He said: “For each complainant there’s about 10 large boxes of material. It has taken three police officers three to four weeks to go through two complainants’ files.”

The nine men are: Kamar Jamil, 27, from Aldrich Road, Summertown; Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Cowley Road, East Oxford; Bassan Karrar, 33, of no fixed address; Akhtar Dogar, 31, of Tawney Street, East Oxford; Zeshan Ahmed, 27, of Palmer Road, Wood Farm; Balel Ahmed, 25, of no fixed address; Mohammed Hussain, 24, of Horspath Road, Cowley; Assad Hussain, 31, of Ashurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford; Anjun Dogar, 30, of Tawney Street, East Oxford.

The men, who were all remanded in custody, are due to enter pleas on Friday, September 28.