June 2010

Two jailed over offences against teen

A DRUG-DEALING prostitute sold a vulnerable runaway 14-year-old girl to a Teesside businessman for sex for £40.

The exploitation, corruption and abuse of the underage teenager was exposed at Teesside Crown Court.

Claire Louise Dixon and Murtadha Elasadi took advantage of the vulnerable girl in a shocking sex crime.

They and a man who dealt drugs with Dixon, all from Middlesbrough, were jailed for a total of more than 15 years.

Judge Howard Crowson told Dixon and Elasadi that they ignored their moral duty to help or protect the girl.

“You two did the very reverse – corrupting a young woman into effective prostitution.

“What she cried out for was care and protection, not exploitation,” he said yesterday.

The judge told Dixon, a long term drug addict and prostitute: “You used her as a means to raise a relatively small amount of money for yourself.

“Forty pounds was the amount you chose to sell her for, for Mr Elasadi to have sex with.”

He told takeaway owner Elasadi: “It must have been very clear to you that she was in a very vulnerable situation.”

Prosecutor Anthony Dunne said the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, came into Middlesbrough after running away from home.

She met Dixon, 31, who bought and gave her alcohol which made her “mortally drunk” then they got into a car on Borough Road.

The girl heard Dixon tell the driver, Elasadi: “A 13-year-old. You probably won’t get one like this again.” Elasadi, 35, disputes this comment.

He drove them to his home. Despite seeing the girl being sick from drink and realising her youth, he took her inside and had sex with her.

Nauseous and dizzy, the girl then saw Dixon counting money and heard her speaking to Elasadi about £40.

Elasadi drove them back into town. Dixon gave the girl some crack cocaine, telling her it would make her feel better.

The events came to light months later when the girl told medical professionals.

Before she ended up on the streets, she had gone to a police station to say she was a missing person, but no one spoke to her and she left.

Elasadi, of Guisborough Road, Nunthorpe, admitted sexual activity with a child. A rape charge was abandoned. He had no previous convictions.

Dixon, of Spencerfield Crescent, admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Judge Crowson told Dixon and Elasadi they were equally culpable for the crimes against the teenage girl, jailing each for four-and-a-half years.

The pair were given sexual offences prevention orders banning them from associating with children. They will be on the sex offenders’ register.

Christine Egerton, defending Elasadi, said he thought the girl was a sex worker and he did not use force or threats.

She said he was a married hard-working successful businessman who was very sorry and ashamed of what he did.

During the hearing, a woman stormed out of the court shrieking abuse at Elasadi.

Brian Russell, representing Dixon, said she found it difficult to accept responsibility and come to terms with the “enormity and unpleasantness” of her actions.

Dixon also admitted three counts of supplying heroin.

She was a “front of house salesperson” with fellow drug dealer David McCabe.

They sold Class A drugs, sometimes from a home on Norcliffe Street, once near a primary school on Coronation Street, North Ormesby.

McCabe, 28, formerly of Marton Road, Middlesbrough, admitted three counts of possessing heroin with intent to supply, two of being concerned in heroin supply and one of supplying cocaine.

He was caught in three police raids of homes on Thornton Street and Chertsey Avenue where heroin was found.

Dixon and McCabe had 77 previous offences between them, none for drugs supply. They also admitted a theft charge.

The three defendants’ offending spanned from August 2008 to September last year.

The judge added 18 months to Dixon’s sentence for the drugs, bringing her total to six years. He jailed McCabe for five years, his first prison term.

Paul Newcombe, for McCabe, said he was a troubled addict now recovering and wishing to change his life.