Trio found guilty over sex slave

Three men have been convicted of abducting a 13-year-old girl and forcing her to become their sex slave.

The girl, from a "troubled" family, was subjected to a string of assaults over four days after being trafficked from her home in London to Ipswich, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told Norwich Crown Court.

Suran Uddin, 28, of St Matthew's Row, Bethnal Green, London; Mohammed Sheikh, 31, of Seaton Point in Hackney, London; and Hamza Ali, 38, of Chilford Road, Waltham Forest, London, denied various sex offences during a three week trial.

But following three days of jury deliberations, Uddin, Sheikh and Ali were all found guilty of conspiracy to traffick in the UK and supplying a class B drug to the victim. Uddin was also convicted of two counts of rape.

Sheikh was convicted on a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity but was cleared of two counts of rape. Ali was found guilty of a sexual assault but not guilty of rape. The men will be sentenced at a later date.

Abdul Hammed, 46, of Wellington Street, Ipswich, was cleared of supplying a class B drug and two counts of rape. The judge had earlier instructed the jury to find him not guilty of trafficking.

Opening the case, Miss Karmy-Jones said: "These men deliberately targeted her. She was an unhappy and deeply troubled child. They enticed her to travel with them in order to set her up as a sex slave and to use her for their pleasure.

"In order to do so, they plied her with drugs and alcohol and made promises that they would take care of her and give her anything she wanted.

"Once at the property in Ipswich, she was treated as little more than skivvy and she was raped over the course of four days."

She said that Sheikh in particular took advantage of the girl's "youth and naivety" and she became so attached to him that at first she found it difficult to accuse him of wrongdoing.