Gang 'groomed' and abused girl in Blackrod, court hears

The men from around the Blackrod are accused of a string of child sex offences committed against the girl between 2016 and 2018, when she was under 16.

A trial before Liverpool Crown Court this week heard how the alleged abuse, which involved men and teenagers several years older than the girl, centred around the village of Blackrod.

Prosecutor Ben Lawrence said: “The prosecution say that she was groomed and that as part of that grooming, she was plied with alcohol, cannabis and cocaine.”

He added: “At various times she considered herself to be in relationships with a number of the defendants, however that feeling was not mutual.”

The trial opened at Liverpool Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Lawrence told the court the group used what was then the home of Cory Barrett, 24, in Blackrod as a place to take the underaged girl.

He said that she was a “young, naïve, impressionable and intoxicated child”, who they introduced to cocaine and cannabis.

Mr Lawrence said it was not the prosecution’s case that she had never consented for sex, but that she had still been raped and abused repeatedly by the men in different ways.

He said that though they used Barrett’s house for their own purposes “it is clear that his co-defendants looked down on Mr Barrett as a rather pathetic character".

He added: “They treated him with some distain.”

But Mr Lawrence said that Barrett still went on to abuse the girl himself in various ways after his “sexually frustration” had built up at seeing the other men do so.

Harvie Aspden (Image: PA)

Another of the men alleged to have abused the girl is 23-year-old Bolton man Harvie Aspden who was said to have contacted her through Facebook in 2017.

Mr Lawrence said this was “probably an illustration” of how the men were discussing the girl among themselves “even at this early stage".

Aspden is alleged to have met and abused the girl several times at Barrett’s home in Blackrod and again at Blackrod Park.

Mr Lawrence then moved on to Jack Poulson, 31, of Bolton, who he said is several years older than the girl.

He told the jury that Poulson had abused her during the Blackrod Scarecrow Festival when he dragged her into some bushes and then again at Barrett’s home.

Mr Lawrence said that this was an “extremely demeaning incident” that also involved 34-year-old Daniel Flatters.

He said that Poulson abused her on other occasions, including in the bathroom at Barrett’s home and later at his own home after buying her cigarettes.

Mr Lawrence said that at various points Poulson threatened the girl and made jokes about kidnapping her.

He said that another of the men alleged to have abused the girl was 25-year-old Horwich man Brandon Harwood who had been “staring at her strangely” during a trip to the house.

Mr Lawrence said this showed it “seemed inevitable” Harwood had been told about the girl by the other men.

He said that after abusing her for the first time, he seemed “uncomfortable with what he was doing.”

But he said that Harwood still went on to abuse and to try to rape her on several occasions.

Richard Haslam (Image: PA)

Mr Lawrence told the jury that the next man accused of abusing the girl was Richard Haslam, 34, from Bolton, who he said first met her at Barrett’s home in Blackrod.

He said that he abused her several times, at one point having Barrett act as a “look out” as he did so in the kitchen.

Mr Lawrence said that on another occasion Haslam kissed the girl after asking her to put her school uniform on.

He told the jury that the next man to abuse the girl was Elliot Turner, 26, of Horwich, who he said had had sex with her at what was then his own home.

Elliott Turner (Image: PA)

Mr Lawrence said that Turner had had sex with her when she was already involved in a sex act with another man without consent and that “nothing had been said about doing that".

The prosecutor told the jury that yet another man Jamie Fitzgerald, 36, of Bolton and a work colleague of Haslam’s, had at one point pulled at her clothing.

Mr Lawrence said that Fitzgerald then abused her while Barrett was “certainly laughing".

Jamie Fitzgerald (Image: PA)

He said that Fitzgerald had denied either knowing about the girl or going to the house in Blackrod, but Mr Lawrence said Barrett had apparently been calling and texting him.

Finally, Mr Lawrence said that Daniel Flatters, 34, of Darcy Lever, had abused the girl “over a lengthy period of time” and had introduced her to cocaine.

Daniel Flatters (Image: PA)

He told court that Flatters was “at least one of the suppliers of cocaine to the group generally".

Mr Lawrence said that the jury would hear further evidence about how Barrett’s home in Blackrod was regarded as a “party house” and was in a state of “squalor and disarray".

The men all deny the charges against them.

Barrett, now of Wigan, denies five counts of rape and two counts of assault by penetration while Aspden denies three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Poulson has pleaded not guilty to assault by penetration, four counts of rape and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without their consent.

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He also denies three counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of inciting a child to sexual activity and one count of sexual communications with a child.

Harwood denies charges of rape, two counts of attempted rape, and two more counts of sexual activity with a child.

Haslam denies three counts of rape, one count of assault by penetration, two counts of sexual activity with a child and another count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Flatters has already admitted to aggravated vehicle taking but denies three counts of sexual activity with a child, rape and supplying a controlled drug to another.

The trial before Judge Simon Medland KC continues.