Twelve men in court over child sex charges
Three men from the Black Country and Birmingham are among 12 defendants standing trial accused of a series of sex offences against teenage boys.
Three of the defendants are from Halesowen, Cradley Heath and Great Barr in the dock for the hearing at Warwick Crown Court, where the jury were sworn in on Monday.
The trial of the 12, whose ages range from 24 to 78, at Warwick Crown Court is expected to last for up to three months.
It involves a total of 56 charges, all but five of which involve various alleged offences against two boys who were in their early teens at the time.
Darren Clegg, aged 28, of Hillside Drive, Great Barr, denies taking part in sexual activity with a boy on a date in December 2009.
Stephen Kelly, 39, of Elm Road, Bourneville, Birmingham, has denied arranging or facilitating child prostitution, as well as sexual offences against him.
Wheelchair-bound Kevan Tudor, 55, has pleaded not guilty to offences of raping the boy and to charges of penetrative sexual activity with him.
Peter Joynes, 58, of Canberra Way, Highgate, Birmingham, who also denies arranging or facilitating the child prostitution of the teenager.
Tahir Hussain, 34, of St Josephs Road, Ward End, Birmingham, faces charges, including trafficking for sexual exploitation and six of arranging or facilitating child prostitution.
He has also denied other charges of rape and sexual activity with the boy.
Ronald Potter, 78, of Tippers Lane, Fillongley, Coventry, has denied arranging or facilitating the child prostitution, rape and taking part in sexual activity, as well as two charges of indecently assaulting another boy in 2001 to 2002.
Six other men, Peter Lowe, Ian Prestleton, Alan Priest, Ashley Sherrington, Robert Bailey and Michael Godbold, also deny arranging or facilitating the child prostitution of a boy in 2010 and raping him.
Lowe, 68, of Salisbury Close, Moseley, Birmingham, and Prestleton, 54, of High Haddon Road, Cradley Heath, also face other charges including sexual activity with the boy.
Priest, 63, of Haywood Bridge, Halesowen, and Sherrington, 24, of Dawlish Drive, Bentley, Stoke, deny charges of sexual activity with a boy, as does Bailey, 27, of Watt Road, Erdington, Birmingham, who also denies sexual activity in the presence of a boy and making indecent images.
And Godbold, 57, of Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, London, faces other charges of sexual activity with a boy, making indecent images, possessing an imitation firearm, and four of possessing drugs including cocaine and ecstasy.
