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A victim of four men from Telford who sexually abused her as a child has told of her relief after they were jailed.

The men were sent to prison after a trial in which it was heard the victim was forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard, raped above a shop on a filthy mattress, and violently abused when she tried to refuse their advances.

"When I found out they'd been found guilty, I just sobbed," the victim told the Sunday Mirror.

"I was relieved, happy and sad, all at the same time."

(Image: BirminghamLive)

In all, five men went on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, leading to convictions for four of the defendants while another was cleared.

Sentencing the group to between four-and-a-half and eight years on Thursday, the judge said the men had abused a "helpless" victim.

Addressing the ring-leader Mohammed Ali Sultan, Recorder of Birmingham, Judge Melbourne Inman QC, said: "The victim was clearly extremely frightened of you, and you exercised significant control over her."

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Turning to the three other men, he said: "There were a group of you using this girl, you all tended to meet in the same type of areas; a churchyard, or near a pizza place."

The offences took place in the Telford area of the West Midlands sometime between 2001 and 2002, and started when the victim, now an adult, was just 13.

The victim said she was assaulted by other unidentified males, with the abuse continuing until she was in her mid-teens, the jury heard.

She told the Sunday Mirror: "I did have doubts about whether I'd get justice after such a long time but when this sort of thing happens it's something you are never going to forget."