Three men who forced a 14-year-old schoolgirl into prostitution and made her have sex with 20 men during a five day period have been found guilty of child sexual exploitation.
Brandon Sharples, 20, Jake Cairns, 21, and Jack McInally, 21, gave the teenager drugs and held her at an address in Coventry for five days.
West Midlands Police said Cairns took explicit pictures of the young girl and posted them onto an 18+ website Viva Street. She was then forced to have sex with ‘clients’ during the five-day period in the summer of 2015.
A missing person inquiry was launched after she disappeared from a relative’s home in Coventry. She was found by police trying to climb out a first floor bathroom in her underwear, Warwick Crown Court heard.
Brandon Sharples, 20, (left) and Jack McInally, 21, (right) gave the teenager drugs and held her at an address in Coventry for five days
Cairns was tracked down by authorities after it emerged that he had paid for the Viva Street advert from his own bank account.
And DNA was found on a duvet in the room where she was made to have sex with different men. At least five different sources were found, including from Cairns.
Sharples, Cairns and McInally were all found guilty of facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child. Cairns was also found guilty of arranging child sexual exploitation and taking and distributing indecent images of a child.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Jon Barker said: ‘These three men were involved with the shocking exploitation of a young girl – they took advantage of her drug dependency and made money out of forcing her to have sex with strangers.
‘Cairns initially denied knowing the girl but later changed his story after he was identified during an ID procedure.
‘Now that a jury has found them guilty, they can expect to be handed long jail terms.’
Sharples, from Wyley Road; Cairns, from Cheveral Avenue, both in Coventry, and McInally, of no fixed address, were remanded in custody to be sentenced in January.
Along with being convicted of facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, Jake Cairns, 21, was also found guilty of arranging child sexual exploitation and taking and distributing indecent images of a child