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Gang which ‘sold’ teenage boy in Birmingham jailed for more than 60 years

Victim said police had ignored his pleas for help

Watch above: The sentences handed to each of the gang members

A child rapist has been caged for life and eight others have been jailed for a total of 58 years for committing sexual offences against a teenage boy who was subjected to a “horrifying” catalogue of abuse in Birmingham.

A three-month trial was told that the victim, who was in the care of a Midland council, was raped and repeatedly sold for sex in Birmingham’s red light district during 2009 and 2010.

Warwick Crown Court heard that some of the horrific abuse was even streamed live on the internet and that he had been stripped, beaten with a stick, and raped by two of the nine defendants.

The court also heard that West Midlands Police had twice failed to properly investigate the allegations and the victim, now in his 20s, was even locked up himself in a secure unit.

Jurors deliberated for more than 30 hours in May before convicting eight defendants from the West Midlands, London and Stoke-on-Trent of offences involving the boy.

A ninth man was cleared by the jury of committing offences against the teenager but had previously admitted facilitating child prostitution in relation to the victim.

The trial heard that the victim who was in local authority care was left “traumatised” by the offences against him, which began in his early teens.