A DAD has said it “defies belief” his daughter was abused by a child sex gang while she was known to police, the Old Bailey heard.

The father of unnamed complainant Girl 1 told the jury he would “desperately” search Oxford for his missing daughter.

Girl 1 is one of six to claim they were abused between the ages of 11 and 15 by a child sex exploitation gang in Oxford between 2004 and 2012.

Her dad told the court she had gone missing more than 70 times and often returned in stained clothes looking “awful”. He said his daughter was well known to police as she went missing so often.

And she told him police knew what was happening to her.

He said: “Under normal police protection she continued to be abused and assaulted. Which is something that defies belief.”

And he said she told him: “They know where I have been, they know what’s going on.”

Police refused to do DNA tests on clothing found in the child’s room, the jury heard.

Her father said: “We believed there was something sinister going on. We were shocked and horrified they wouldn’t take the clothing.”

He also said police never told him anything.

He said: “They always told me there was nothing they were prepared to tell me or share with me.

“That was a consistent theme throughout several years.”

The man also criticised the children’s home in Henley on Thames where his daughter stayed in 2006.

He said the manager had been “dismissed” after refusing to pay his daughter’s taxi fare so she was driven back to Oxford where she was abused again.

He said communication with the home was “poor”, adding: “It wasn’t a place we believed was particularly well run.”

The man sobbed as he told the jury his daughter “rapidly” lost weight and came home smelling.

He said he would go out looking for her, taking a photograph of her and asking at cinemas, pubs, and nightclubs.

He said: “We didn’t have a clue what was happening.

“All we knew was we were terrified because our child was missing, effectively disappearing off the face of the earth for days at a time.”

He later said: “We never knew if she was dead or alive to be honest, from one day to the next.”

But he said police told him to stop looking for his daughter in 2006 as it was “detrimental to her well-being”.

The court also heard he found her bleeding and with cigarette burns.

He said once she told him: “I’m not going to tell you anything because they threatened to kill my family.”

The father said he believed someone was giving his daughter money as she spent a lot on mobile phone calls and bus tickets to Oxford.

The girl’s social worker also gave evidence yesterday.

Alleged victims Girl 1 and Girl 2 stayed at the children’s home where the witness worked in 2006.

She said there were up to eight staff there to care for up to three children.

She said Girl 1 had told her she was having sex with men and she was afraid of them.

The nine men on trial deny all 51 counts. They are:

  • Kamar Jamil, 27, of Aldrich Road, Summertown, Oxford, denies four rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and one of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Akhtar Dogar, 32, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies six rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, three of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Assad Hussain, 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, denies two charges of conspiracy to rape and three of sexual activity with a child.
  • Anjum Dogar, 30, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies four rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, three of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, denies seven rapes, four charges of conspiracy to rape, an alternative charge of conspiracy to commit sexual activity with a child, two of trafficking for sexual exploitation, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, assault, conspiracy to assault, using an instrument to procure a miscarriage, and supplying a Class A drug to another.
  • Bassam Karrar, 33, Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two charges of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and conspiracy to assault.
  • Mohammed Hussain, 24, of Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, denies rape, conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
  • Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, of Palmer Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, denies two charges of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
  • Bilal Ahmed, 26, of Suffolk Road, Maidenhead, denies conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and sexual activity with a child.

The trial continues.