Rotherham abuse trial jury told 'police officer had sex with girls'

A woman has told the Rotherham child sexual exploitation trial that a police officer she confided in had sex with girls at houses where she was staying and would pass seized drugs to one of the defendants.

Over three days in the witness box, the woman has described how she was repeatedly abused and assaulted from the age of 11 when she was in the care of the local authority.

She described how she told a detective called Kenneth Dawes about what happened but no action was taken.

Asked by Michelle Colborne QC, prosecuting, how she found the detective constable, she told the jury: "He used to come to houses where we were."

She said: "He used to have sex with girls and he used to take drugs from people and pass them on to Ash."

The jury at Sheffield Crown Court has heard that two of the seven defendants - Arshid Hussain and Qurban Ali - were known as Mad Ash and Blind Ash respectively. The witness did not clarify which one she was referring to.

Asked when this happened, the witness said: "It was while I was still in care."

She added: "I told him what was happening."

And she said: "He wrote it down in his book."

The woman, who is now 36, also told the jury no-one helped her when she living in children's homes.

Ms Colborne asked if that was "any one person in any of the care homes you felt you could trust?"

The witness replied: "No."

The prosecutor said: "Any member of staff you could go to as an authority figure?"

The woman said: "All they were concerned about was sitting at the end of the night and writing reports up - that was it."

Karen MacGregor, 58, Arshid Hussain, 40, Qurban Ali, 53, Majid Bostan, 37, Sajid Bostan, 38, Basharat Hussain, 39, and Shelley Davies, 40, all deny a range of charges.