A 14-year-old who was subjected to a horrific five-day ordeal in which she was plied with drugs and forced to have sex with 20 men has been lauded for her "incredible bravery."

Her three captors, Jake Cairns, Brandon Sharples and Jack McInally, have been convicted this week.

The girl was held in a terrifying five-day ordeal in Coventry.

She was held at an address in the city, before the sick trio advertised her as an 18-year-old on an escort site.

It is believed she was made to have sex with around 20 people before West Midlands Police rescued her on June 13, 2015.

They found her trying to climb out of a first floor bathroom window, in only her underwear, in a bid to escape her abusers.

A spokesman for children’s charity the NSPCC said: “These predators targeted a vulnerable girl and subjected her to unthinkable abuse at the hands of a number of men.

“This is a distressing example of the way abusers can manipulate their victims and make them feel there is no escape.

“The survivor of this appalling abuse has shown incredible bravery in speaking out and it is vital she now gets the support she needs to attempt to recover from these horrendous experiences.

“It is vital we are all alert to the warning signs of child sexual exploitation. Anyone concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC helpline in confidence on 0808 800 5000.”

The girl disappeared from a relative’s home in Coventry and information led police to an address in Somerset Road, Radford, where they found the teenager trying to make her escape.

They forced open the front door to the property and arrested Cairns, McInally and Sharples.

21-year-old Cairns, from Cheveral Avenue in Radford, found guilty of facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child at Warwick Crown Court on Tuesday.

Sharples, 20, from Wyley Road in Radford, and McInally, 21, of no fixed address, were found guilty of the same crimes.

Cairns was additionally found guilty of arranging child sexual exploitation and taking and distributing indecent images of a child.

They were remanded into prison and are set to be sentenced in January.

The police investigation showed that Cairns had taken explicit photos of the teenager and posted them on adult contact site Viva Street. Detectives found an email address linking Cairns to the Viva Street advert.

The girl’s face was not visible but one photo featured a distinctive necklace belonging to the girl which police recovered.

And DNA discovered on a duvet in a room, where she was forced to have sex, was shown to have come from five different sources, including Cairns.

Det Con 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 − and our financial enquiries showed he’d paid for the Viva Street advert via his own bank account.

“Now that a jury has found them guilty they can expect to be handed long jail terms.”

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