A YOUNG girl was abused in Cirencester by a man who 'farmed her out' to other men for sex, a jury was told today.

Douglas Turner, 52, let his friend Sean Denovan, 48, have sex with the girl, as well as a variety of other men who have never been identified, it was alleged at Gloucester Crown Court.

Turner, formerly of Cirencester but now of Slaughter Tree Avenue in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland, and Denovan, of Goulding Close, Swindon, both deny raping the girl and a catalogue of other sex offences against her and another girl, covering a 10 year period.

Turner denies indecently assaulting a girl under 14 on three occasion between April 2002 and April 2004, assaulting her on three occasions between May 2004 and April 2009, and raping her twice between April 2003 and April 2004.

Denovan denies four charges of raping the same girl between April 2003 and April 2005.

Both men deny two further charges of conspiring together to rape the girl between April 2003 and April 2008.

The defendants also face two charges each relating to a different, older, girl, who was also under 14 at the time.

Turner denies indecently assaulting her between Feb 1999 and Feb 2001 while Denovan denies indecently assaulting her between Feb 2001 and Feb 2002.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC told the jury the charges were 'very grave allegations indeed.'

Prosecutor David Scutt said the alleged offences occurred at an address in Cirencester and another in Swindon.

He said the main victim was aged six and seven when the alleged offences began in about 2002 and was 15 when they stopped.

"We say the two defendants raped her and that she was taken to an address in Swindon where she was raped by other men," said Mr Scutt.

"There is no easy way of putting it – that is what happened. She was taken there and had sex with other men and it was rape.

"We say that for this girl abuse became her normality. She says that by the time she was seven Mr Turner was having sex with her as well as using his finger to penetrate her.

"Within a very short time of the sex beginning she was taken to another property which she recalls being in Swindon and was introduced to Mr Denovan and to other men. She didn't know who the other men were but she did know Mr Denovan because he was a close friend of Mr Turner.

"The other men were essentially complete strangers to her. We don't know now who they were.

"Mr Denovan and these other men had sex with her while, as far as she could tell, Mr Turner waited in another room.

"She says the sex with other men happened about 10 times and with Mr Denovan seven to eight times.

"In essence, we say, Mr Turner farmed her out for sex. What he got from that we don't know and we probably never will. We say she had effectively been groomed or conditioned into going along with what was happening.

"We also say the other girl, who was older, was also groomed and conditioned in the same way,"

Mr Scutt said part of the evidence against Turner came from his own GP and a counsellor who helped with his depression in 2006.

He had allegedly revealed he had 'feelings' for a 16-year-old girl and also said he felt ashamed of his past dealings with one of his alleged victims.

It was only in 2014 that the alleged victims made complaints to police, said Mr Scutt.

The boyfriend of the younger girl then told police he had witnessed her have 'night terrors' when she dreamt she was being penetrated with a broomstick - something she alleges one of the men did to her in Swindon.

Mr Scutt said when Turner was arrested at his current home in Scotland on December 14, 2014 he was taken to the nearest English police station, Carlisle, and interviewed. He denied all the allegations made by the younger girl. But questioned about the claims made by the older girl, he said 'no comment.'

Mr Denovan was arrested on Dec 15 in Swindon and admitted he knew both girls but denied all their allegations.

The trial continues.