A WOMAN plied a teenage girl with drink and drugs before “forcing her” to have sex with men.

The victim, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, said she felt she had been “treated like a slave” by Karen Potter.

The 35-year-old, now of Harrison Road, Worthing, is facing multiple counts of arranging the prostitution of two girls and of setting them up to be raped by men who paid for sex. She is also accused of taking part in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Potter used alcohol to make the child “more compliant” when offering her to men for sex in return for cash in Hove and Worthing, jurors were told.

Alan Gardner, prosecuting at Brighton Crown Court, said: “She prostituted her. The victim unwillingly and unhappily submitted.”

The girl felt she had no choice and was told she could make “loads of money”, he said.

Potter is standing trial alongside Daniel McCaw and Neil Oxlade, who are accused of rape, paying for sex with a child and sexual activity in the presence of a child. Oxlade, Potter’s former neighbour who later lived in Ferring, is also charged with possessing extreme pornographic images. All three deny the allegations.

Potter, who used to live in Hove, had to move into temporary accommodation in shared a bottle of vodka with the girl while waiting for a photographer “friend” to visit and help her get work as an escort, Mr Gardener said.

She painted the girl’s nails, styled her hair and put make-up on her before Oxlade, now 37, of Tanllwyfan, Colwyn Bay, Wales, arrived with a “professional looking camera” and a tripod.

Things seemed “innocent” at first but the girl was “taken aback” when he took pictures of Potter in her underwear and naked, the court heard. He asked to photograph the girl and Potter encouraged her.

The pair had sex in front of her before Potter said: “You’ve got to do it now.”

The girl was given alcohol and cannabis when another "friend" of Karen Potter - Daniel McCaw, now 43, of Blacksmiths Crescent, Sompting - visited, Brighton Crown Court heard. Potter said he could have sex with both of them for £500.

Potter is alleged to have told the girl to sex with another, so far unidentified, man as well. 

The trial continues.

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