A teenage witness today claimed a Shropshire man had been told that her best friend was 16 years old when he had sex with her at a Wellington house.

The young woman said that her friend – an alleged victim in the Telford sex exploitation trial – had never told Mohammed Ali Sultan that she was still only 15 when they were together.

And the 17-year-old witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury at Stafford Crown Court she had subsequently tried to tell police ‘five or six times’ that her friend had lied to Ali Sultan about her age.

Ali Sultan, 24, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington, is one of seven Telford men who deny more than 50 charges of sexual exploitation and child prostitution.

He denies six charges, including three allegations of sexual activity with a child said to involve the witness’s friend – Girl F who is now also aged 17, and yet to give evidence to the court.

Cross-examined today by Mr Brian Dean, defence counsel for Ali Sultan, the teenage witness said she and her friend were with the defendant and a man she named as Shameel Khan, at a house in Victoria Avenue in September two years ago.

Mr Dean told the witness that his client accepted what she was saying happened and did not deny that he had sex with her friend, but had believed she was not under age at the time.

The young woman agreed with Mr Dean that her friend had told Ali Sultan she was 16 before they had sex upstairs in the house in Victoria Avenue in mid-September, 2009 – about 10 days before her 16th birthday.

“Your friend also told him that she would be 17 a few days later on October 1,” asked Mr Dean.

“Yes,” said the witness.

“And you tried to tell the police this since your interviews in December, 2009,” said Mr Dean.

“Yes,” said the girl.

“How many times?” said Mr Dean.

“Maybe five or six times,” the girl told the jury.

The witness accepted that in the summer of 2009 they had both been socialising with Asian boys and had gone to an area in Wellington where the Asian community lived.

The jury heard that the witness ‘fancied’ Shameel Khan and said they had sex at the Victoria Avenue address on the same night that her friend was with Mohammed Ali Sultan.

The trial continues.

Telford child sex ring trial – the defendants:

The seven defendants deny 52 charges involving rape, sexual exploitation of teenage girls, controlling and arranging child prostitution, sexual activity with a child, sexual grooming and paying for sexual services of a child.

One of the men also denies an allegation of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, a new charge under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Seven teenage girls – aged 13 to 17 – are the alleged victims of the offences said to have been committed between September, 2007, and December, 2009.

On trial are:

AHDEL ALI, 23, of Regent Street, Wellington, who denies 20 charges – an allegation of rape, three of controlling child prostitution, a charge of facilitating child prostitution, nine allegations of sexual activity with a child, two of arranging child prostitution, two of meeting a child following sexual grooming and two of inciting child prostitution.

MUBAREK ALI, 28, also of Regent Street, Wellington, has pleaded not guilty to 9 charges – trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, two of facilitating child prostitution, three of controlling child prostitution and three of arranging child prostitution.

MOHAMMED ALI SULTAN, 24, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington, denies an allegation of rape, controlling child prostitution and four charges of sexual activity with a child.

TANVEER AHMED, 39, of Urban Gardens, Wellington, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual activity with a child, two charges of controlling a child prostitute, facilitating child prostitution and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

MAHROOF KHAN, 33, a trainee chef, of Caradoc Flats, Wellington, denies three charges of sexual activity with a child, two charges of paying for sexual services of a child and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

NOSHAD HUSSAIN, 21, a delivery driver, of Regent Street, Wellington, denies facilitating child prostitution and two charges of sexual activity with a child.

MOHAMMED ISLAM CHOUDHREY, 52, of Solway Drive, Sutton Hill, Telford, denies two charges of paying for sexual services of a child.

By Arthur Mills