A WITNESS at the Oxford child prostitution trial was threatened with arrest for wasting police time, the Old Bailey heard this morning.

The young woman, who claims she was raped and sold for sex as a young teen, said she felt she had been"let down"by police after "nothing happened" when she reported abuse in 2006.

She was speaking at the trial of nine men accused of grooming, raping, and prostituting girls aged between 11 and 15 in Oxford between 2004 and 2012.

The defendants deny all the charges.

Known as Girl 1 as she cannot be named she said she had been threatened with arrest after running away so often.

She said: "They threatened, on a number of occasions, to arrest me for wasting police time for turning up at a police station in a state after running away."

And she said police should have recognised something was wrong and it should not have been only up to her to come forward.

She said: "Any self-respecting police officer would have seen something was wrong.

"If you pick up a child who is covered in cigarette burns and bruises something is fundamentally wrong."

She added:"Adults should be doing their jobs, it's not down to a child."

The witness, now in her 20s, says Kamar Jamil, Assad Hussain, and Akhtar and Anjum Dogar abused her from the age of 12 to 15. Andrew Jefferies, defending Akhtar Dogar, asked her if she was going to receive money for giving evidence.

But she said: "I didn't do this for financial gain. I have received no payment whatsoever.

"I am here to tell my story and see the people who abused me found guilty."

The young woman also told the court the gang took photographs and said it felt like they had a "catalogue or menu" of the girls on their phones.

Mr Jefferies asked her why she still went back to the men after the "nasty" abuse.

She said she felt a "weird loyalty", adding: "Why do battered wives go back to their husbands?"

And asked why she didn't tell anyone about the scale of the abuse, she said she was a "confused child".

She said: "As an adult I see it for what it was - grown men taking advantage of a young girl."

Akhtar Dogar claims he knew the witness but had no sexual contact with her.

The court heard this week that Girl 1 had seen money changing hands and believed it was for sex with her.

But Mr Jefferies said: "My suggestion is the money stuff is all lies."

The witness said: "It's funny how they all have designer clothes and they could afford vodka and cigarettes and cannabis when none of them had jobs."

The trial continues.

The accused all deny the charges. They are:

- Kamar Jamil, 27, formerly 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.
- Anjum Dogar, 30, <31 on Feb 17> 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.
- Assad Hussain, 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, denies two charges of conspiracy to rape and three of sexual activity with a child.
- Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, Oxford, 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, of Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, Oxford, 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.