A GIRL told police how she was groomed by three men, given drugs and abused by men paying to have sex with her, the jury in the Bullfinch trial has been told today.

Noel Lucas continued his opening statement of the prosecution's case this afternoon, concentrating on what he said was likely to be the evidence of the first complainant.

It included allegations of rape, sexual abuse, acts that Mr Lucas has described as depraved, and an alleged incident in which the girl was told her head would be cut off if she did not perform an indecent act in Shotover Woods.

It left the girl, who is now in her 20s, wanting to die because she was in "a living hell".

The girl had said she had a troubled home life and, in due course, she met a group of Asian men who the prosecution say was Kamar Jamil, and brothers Akhtar and Anjum Dogar.

At first she thought they were being kind to her as they gave her cannabis and alcohol, said Mr Lucas, and "she felt flattered that they appeared to be interested in her".

They bought her gifts such as perfume and: "Looking back she now appreciates that she was vulnerable and an easy target as she craved the attention and affection they were giving," said Mr Lucas.

But their attitude changed and by the time she was 13 she had been required to have sex with some of them. She was taken to several locations, including a house or flat in Oxford, the Nanford Guest House in Iffley Road and the Travelodge off Pear Tree roundabout, said Mr Lucas.

"On the way the men told her she had to make them happy and not cry," he added.

The girl was also sold for sex, said Mr Lucas, being taken to houses for days at a time, during which she was barely aware of what was going in because she was so "wasted" on drugs.

Men would come from outside Oxford from places such as Bradford, Slough, Leeds and London and pay to have sex with her.

Mr Lucas said: "They were introduced as friends, brothers or cousins, the vast majority being Asian and the rest black.

"Photographs were taken of her on their mobile telephones, sometimes in the course of sexual activity.

"She never received any money but she saw it changing hands."

When there were no customers she would be kept in a house with a man standing guard to stop her leaving.

Jamil and the Dogars would some times join in, Mr Lucas said, and if she resisted she was hit.

He added:"It got to the stage where she just got 'wasted' and let them get on with it for fear of getting a 'kicking'."

Jamil, the Dogars and Hussain are four of nine men standing trial. They deny a total of 50 counts.

Some of the allegations cannot be published by the Oxford Mail and Mr Lucas said: "She describes it as a pack mentality with each man encouraging the others.

"Sometimes they appeared to be turned on if she was crying. On occasions she was given bottles of drink, cigarettes, cannabis and small amounts of money.

"I started by saying this was depraved. I hope you do not find my original description an exaggeration."

Mr Lucas said Hussain was one of the men who had sex with the girl and so became part of the conspiracy to rape operated by the others.

On one occasion she said she had her period to stop anything happening to her but Akhtar Dogar discovered she was lying.

The Dogars and Hussain took her to Shotover Woods, threatening to slit her throat and then cut off her head if she did not perform oral sex upon them, he said.

She did but this made her vomit.

Mr Lucas said the girl would be away from home for periods of up to eight days.

"She spent the whole time wasted and had nothing to eat or drink other than alcohol.

"She felt that she would feel less pain if intoxicated.

"When she was missing for that length of time the men realised the police might be looking for her and would be cautious about letting her be seen.

"She frequently caught Chlamydia. She was often covered in bruises and burns where the men had stubbed her with cigarettes. She began to self-harm as a result of the trauma.

"She describes the period as a living hell.

"When she was wasted she used to wish she would never come round and face it all over again."

Mr Lucas also said the girl told police she had been held against her will at an address in Cowley Road in February 2006.

In the September she also told police Akhtar Dogar had sex with her in a park, and she was having sex in exchange for drugs.

Dogar was interviewed by police but denied raping her.

Soon after she turned 15, the girl decided it had to stop, said Mr Lucas. she threw away her phone, stopped taking drugs and went back to school.

In relation to this girl, Jamil denies four counts of rape, conspiracy to rape and two of arranging or facilitating her prostitution.

Akhtar Dogar denies five counts of raping her, conspiracy to rape and two of arranging or facilitating her prostitution.

Anjum Dogar denies three counts of raping her, conspiracy to rape and two of arranging or facilitating her prostitution.

Hussain denies conspiracy to rape her, and sexual activity with a child.

The court is not sitting tomorrow and Mr Lucas will resume his opening statement on Thursday.