A POLICE officer found a 14-year-old girl in a flat before men carrying beer, cash and condoms arrived, the Old Bailey heard this afternoon.

Sgt Felicity Parker was giving evidence in the trial of nine men accused of running a child sex exploitation ring in Oxford.

She told the jury she was on a cycle patrol in August 2006 when she noticed the light was on at the St Thomas Mews property she believed was empty.

She knocked on the door and a man called "Haji Khan" answered. He was alone with the complainant known as Girl 2.

Anjum and Akhtar Dogar soon turned up, she said, before a man called "Colum Flagherty" arrived. Anjum and Flagherty were carrying cash and condoms and Akhtar a can of beer.

Sgt Parker said the girl told her she was 16.

She said: "I disbelieved her instantly. She didn't look 16 years of age at all. she looked more 13."

She added: "She seemed withdrawn to me and didn't want to engage with me."

Sgt Parker asked to speak to the girl in the bedroom, where she told her she was 14 and had run away from a children's home.

She said: "I wanted to talk to her away from the men. I was suspicious that something was going on."

The four men were arrested on suspicion of rape, but the girl refused to press charges.

She told the jury today it was because she was scared about what would happen when the men were released.

The jury will not hear any evidence tomorrow while lawyers discuss legal issues.