A GIRL aged 14 believed she was in love with the older man who picked her up from a Bradford children’s home to have sex with her, a jury has heard.

Now in her mid-twenties, the woman fought back tears as she told Bradford Crown Court: “At the time, I wanted to believe it was a real relationship.”

Speaking of Basharat Khaliq, 38, the witness said she was 14 and he was in his late twenties when she began a three-year relationship with him.

They had sex about 150 times, almost always in his car, parked in the Keighley area, on an industrial estate and at Leeds-Bradford Airport.

The witness said she was taken into care aged 13 and began drinking vodka and smoking cigarettes in a park with a friend from the home.

The two girls met Khaliq, known as Bash, in Bradford city centre late at night when he bought them a lighter, cigarettes and vodka, it is alleged.

After the witness began a sexual relationship with Bash “pretty much everyone” at the children’s home knew about it, the jury was told on Tuesday.

The woman said she regretted the relationship and never wanted to see Bash again.

“I want him to fall off the earth,” she said in her police interview played in court.

She alleged she was treated for a sexually transmitted disease when she was 14. She attended a clinic and told Bash about it.

Cross-examined by Khaliq’s barrister, Abdul Iqbal QC, the woman said Bash never plied her with alcohol or drugs during the relationship or showered her with gifts.

“You were never forced to do anything against your will?” Mr Iqbal asked.

The woman replied: “No.”

Prosecutor, Kama Melly QC, alleges that the woman and her friend from the children’s home, who is the same age, were used for the “sexual fulfilment” of older men.

The second girl is said to have been abused at a house in Bradford where drink and drugs were taken.

Khaliq, of Bradford, denies five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration.

Saeed Akhtar, 55, of Bradford, denies two counts of causing/inciting child prostitution and one of rape.

Yasar Majid, 37, of Milton Keynes, denies one count of rape.

Naveed Akhtar, 43, of Bradford, denies three counts of rape.

Parvaze Ahmed, 36, of Bradford, denies three counts of rape.

Izar Hussain, 32, of Bradford, denies three counts of rape and one of attempted rape.

Zeeshan Ali, 32, of Bradford, denies a charge of sexual assault.

Kieran Harris, 28, of Dewsbury, denies two counts of rape.

Fahim Iqbal, 27, of no fixed abode, denies a charge of aiding and abetting rape and Mohammed Usman, 31, of Bradford, denies two charges of rape.

The trial continues.