A VULNERABLE schoolgirl hugged a red cushion as she revealed she "got used to the idea" of being raped during 12 months of sexual exploitation by a violent Keighley drug dealer.

The child is said to have been abused by 14 Asian males between May, 2011, and June, 2012, when she was aged 13 and 14.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court has heard that she truanted from school and went missing from home 71 times while being regularly beaten by Arif Choudhury and forced by him to have sex with other men.

Choudhury raped her in the grounds of a church in May, 2011, when she refused to deliver drugs for him any more, the jury has heard.

She was 13 and a virgin when he physically attacked and raped her, said Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, told the jury Choudhury was out of the country and would play no part in the proceedings.

Choudhury is said to have forced the girl to have sex with all the defendants except Mohammed Akram, 62, of Holker Street, Keighley. He denies having sex with the girl once in his taxi when he was 59 and she was 14.

Today the jury heard that the girl, now 18, told the police Arif made her have sex with a younger boy in the grounds of Cliffe Castle, Keighley.

She said Arif appeared from a behind a bush, pulled her to the floor and punched and kicked her before the youth, now aged 17, raped her.

Asked by a police officer how she felt about it, the girl replied: "Horrible, but I'd got used to the idea by then."

The youth, who cannot be named because of his age, denies one charge of rape.

The girl, who was taken into care in June, 2012, says she was also raped in a disused underground car park at the former Keighley Police Station, behind the town library, in Burgess Park, Stockbridge Tunnel and in Dalton Lane.

Miss Colborne said she was reserved and had low self esteem. She was desperate to belong and an easy target.

Also before the court are Yasser Kabir, 25, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, who denies four allegations of rape.

Tauqeer Hussain, 23, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, and Nazir Khan, 23, of Buxton Street, Keighley, who plead not guilty to three allegations of rape.

Israr Ali, 19, of Devonshire Street West, Keighley; Mohammed Sardar, 19, of Bradford Street, Lawkholme, Keighley; Saqib Younis, 29, of Bradford Street, Lawkholme, Keighley; Bilal Ziarab, 21, of Sedgwick Close, Manningham, Bradford; Sufyan Ziarab, 22, of Kendal Mellor Court, Keighley; Zain Ali, 20, of Buxton Street, Keighley, and Faisal Khan, 27, of Buxton Street, Keighley, who deny two allegations of rape.

Rohail Iqbal, 22, of Skipton Road, Beechcliffe, Keighley; Rohail Hussain, 18, of Hawk Street, Lawkholme, Keighley, who plead not guilty to one allegation of rape.

The trial continues.