A 16-year-old girl was raped by a gang of Asian men who were finally arrested when her partner phoned a TV news studio after she watched a report on sex abuse, a court heard today.

The girl, who was allegedly abused over a two-year period, asked her partner to call the BBC Look North studio in Yorkshire after viewing their piece which related to the Rotherham sex abuse scandal.

She was a resident of a care home after having a turbulent upbringing when the alleged sexual abuse started, Bradford Crown Court was told.

A jury was told that the girl later ran away from the home with a friend and a bottle of vodka and the pair headed towards the city centre.

Basharat Khaliq (pictured), 37, also allegedly raped a friend of the main victim and is on trial at Bradford Crown Court

The prosecution allege one of the men approached two girls in a car and offered to take them to buy a lighter in 2008, just months after they had both been placed into the care home.

In the months that followed, the girls were subjected to a range of sexual abuse at the hands of the ten men through a variety of different methods 'to satisfy their sexual desires', the court was told.

The men subsequently arrested deny a total of 25 charges including rape and sexual assault against the same alleged victim over the period of July 2009 to July 2011.

One of the group, Basharat Khaliq, 37, also allegedly raped a friend of the main victim, who the whole gang are accused of sexually abusing.

The four counts of rape against Khaliq relate to the first alleged victim between May 2008 and September 2009 while the remaining 21 counts against the other men relate to the second girl between July 2009 and July 2011.

He told the first girl a series of lies including lying about a scar on his abdomen, telling her it was a stab wound when in fact it was a surgery scar, the court was told.

Zeeshan Ali (left) swore when he left Bradford Crown Court along with Yasar Majid (right)

The girl told police his behaviour towards her was 'unsettling' and 'aggressive' and Khaliq had told her he loved her when she was aged 14.

She told police he would visit her all the time and told her 'sex would make them feel closer'.

One of the charges of rape against him refers to a situation where the girl, who would call the defendant 'Bash', was allegedly raped in the front seat of a car.

The court heard how workers at the care home - where both girls lived - had concerns about where they were when they would repeatedly run away - but because it was not a restrictive unit they had no power to stop the teens.

Both girls who had been approached by Khaliq in 2008 were allegedly left on Baildon Moor by the defendant in 2009.

The prosecution said 'a male was contacted by [the alleged victim] who collected her'. This defendant was Saeed Akhtar, known as 'Sid', the prosecution allege.

Parvaze Ahmed (left) and Izar Hussain (right) both deny sexual abuse charges at Bradford Crown Court

The property in which much of the abuse is alleged to have taken place is the house in which he lived.

The court was told the second victim was passed between men and repeatedly told she was in a relationship with them in order to cover the abuse.

The prosecutor said the girl was 'cynically manipulated' by the defendants, who each visited the house during 'parties' which involved drugs and alcohol.

On one occasion, the prosecutor detailed how the victim had taken 22 lines of cocaine in a single night and once addicted to the drug 'was easy to control'.

Concluding her opening, prosecutor, Kama Melly QC said: 'Girls in care don't always see the exploitation and manipulation but that does not mean the exploitation was not occurring.

'These girls were sadly ripe and vulnerable to manipulation. This manipulation meant when the time came for the defendants to fulfill his sexual desires he was often able with very little or no resistance. It is not believed they were consenting.'

Ms Melly also described how police had spoken to one of the victims after her number was found on a piece of paper during Operation Kellerabbey.

Kieran Harris (left) and Yasar Majid (right) are also on trial and deny sexual offences at Bradford Crown Court

The original operation investigated sexual exploitation in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

She said: 'When girls or suspects were found police were given the task of finding them. On July 13 [the girl's] phone number cropped up.

'Her phone number was found on a piece of paper and police contacted her.

'[The girl] could not give relevant information to the operation; however, she explained her own experience of growing up.

'She told them she had been given alcohol and drugs and had become an addict. She said she was pleased to see they were investigating.'

The prosecutor described how nothing was done by police until years later when the victim rang the television studio.

She said: 'By then there was much more coverage of Rotherham. [The girl] had watched and seen news reports knowing what had happened to her.

Saeed Akhtar (pictured) denies two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution and one charge of rape

'Frustrated at the lack of coverage... her partner contacted Look North, telling them the abuse was 'much wider than Rotherham'.'

Look North gave the name of the girl to police safeguarding after they were contacted.

Police then began an investigation and ten men were arrested and charged with sexual offences against her.

Khaliq, 37, of Bradford, denies one charge of assault by penetration against the first alleged victim and five charges of rape against a second woman.

Saeed Akhtar, 54, of Bradford, denies two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution and one charge of rape.

Naveed Akhtar, 42, and Izar Hussain, 31, both of Bradford, deny three charges of rape, with Hussain also denying an additional allegation of attempted rape.

Mohammed Usman, 30, of Bradford, and Kieran Harris, 27, of Dewsbury, both pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape.

Yasar Majid, 36, of Milton Keynes, denies a single charge of rape, and Fahim Iqbal, 26, of no fixed abode, pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting rape.

Zeeshan Ali, 31, of Bradford, denies a single charge of sexual assault.

Parvaze Ahmed, 35, of Bradford, denies three charges of rape.

The trial continues.