Full charges eight men in Rochdale child sex abuse and rape trial face

Eight men have gone on trial accused of the rape and sexual abuse of two young girls in Rochdale. As the trial began, a court heard the girls became the 'sex slaves' of a group of Asian men who preyed upon their vulnerabilities.

The complainants, from the age of 13 were expected to have sex with the defendants, and others, 'whenever and wherever the men wanted', jurors at Manchester Minshull Street Court were told as the case was opened on Wednesday (January 22).

Rossano Scamardella KC, prosecuting, alleged the eight men on trial were responsible for the rape and sexual exploitation of the two girls from 2001.

Opening the prosecution, case Mr Scamardella said: "Through no fault of their own, the troubled backgrounds of the girls made them susceptible to the advances of these men, and others who behaved just like them.

"Their treatment at the hands of these predators was appalling. They were children passed around for sex, abused, degraded and then discarded. That it was the two of them that were exploited in this way was not by chance."

The prosecutor alleged it began 'by making the girls feel like grown-ups as they were given alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, places to stay and people to be with'.

He added: "These men preyed upon those vulnerabilities for their own perverted sexual gratification in the most humiliating and degrading way imaginable."

These are the charges, in full, the men face. All eight deny each charge, having pleaded not guilty at earlier court hearings: