Jake Cairns, Brandon Sharples and Jack McInally
Jake Cairns, Brandon Sharples and Jack McInally were found guilty following a trial West Midlands Police

KEY POINTS

  • Jake Cairns, Jack McNall and Brandon Sharples found guilty of exploitation.
  • They put explicit pics of 14-year-old girl on escort site claiming she was 18.
  • Police believe victim may have been forced to have sex with around 20 men.

Three men who plied a 14-year-old girl with drugs and forced her into working as a prostitute have been jailed for a total of 18 years.

Jake Cairns, 21, Jack McNally, 21 and Brandon Sharples, 20, were found guilty of a number of offences relating to child exploitation following a trial at Warwick Crown Court.

Read more

The court heard Cairns became friends after he started selling her drugs. She was the taken in by the men and held at a house in Coventry after she was reported missing by her family on 8 June 2015.

Over the next two days, Cairns gave the girl drugs and encouraged her to work as a prostitute to repay her debt. The trio put explicit photos of the child on an escort website, claiming she was 18.

West Midlands Police believe over the next few days, the girl was forced into having sex with around 20 men who came to the house.

When police went round to rescue the girl, she was found in just her underwear, attempting to escape out of a first-floor window.

Following the trial, Cairns was found guilty of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child and distributing indecent photographs of a child. He has now been sentenced to eight years imprisonment, handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign on to the sex offender register for life

McInall and Sharples were both found guilty of facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child and each sentenced to five years imprisonment. The pair were also handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign on to the sex offender register for life.

Alex Warren, for the CPS, said: "This case involved the most horrendous exploitation of a vulnerable young girl by the defendants. She was treated as little more than a commodity to be utilised for their financial gain.

"The prosecution was able to outline the role that each defendant played in her abuse and they must now face the consequences of their actions

"I would like to pay tribute to the victim's courage and her support in helping to bring these three men to justice."