Birmingham, England: A 17-year-old girl sexually exploited by men in Birmingham is pregnant, a judge has revealed.
Ten men sexually exploited the teenager, who was in Birmingham City Council's care, leading Mr Justice Keehan to impose injunctions barring the men from contacting her or approaching girls they did not know.
But the young girl at the centre of the case is already expecting a baby, and claims 32-year-old Sarfraz Riaz - one of the men handed stay-away orders - is the father of her unborn child.
The victim described Riaz as having been her "boyfriend", but he has denied being the father, the judge said.
News that the girl is expecting a baby emerged during High Court hearings.
It had been ruled that the teenager's pregnancy could not be reported, but the judge lifted that ban yesterday.
Mr Justice Keehan said the decision was difficult and a balance between the girl's human right to respect for private life and the media's right to freedom of expression, but he doubted that revealing the pregnancy would significantly increase the girl's distress or the risk of her being identified.
He also said that the public should be aware that she had become pregnant as a result of being sexually exploited.
The judge said in his ruling that Mr Riaz had been a "most unimpressive witness".
"He is currently serving a prison sentence for a sexual assault which does not relate to (the girl). He maintains his innocence in relation to this offence and maintains he was wrongly convicted," said Mr Justice Keehan.
"He has a total of 14 criminal convictions including for offences of burglary, racially aggravated assault and drugs offences. "
"I note that (the girl's) assertions that Sarfraz Riaz was her boyfriend and the father of her unborn child were made at a time when she was fully supportive of him. Accordingly it would appear that her assertions were not borne out of malice or to falsely implicate him."
He added: "Sarfraz Riaz denied ever having sexual intercourse with (the girl), he denied being the father of her unborn child and he denied sexually exploiting her. Sarfraz Riaz was a most unimpressive witness.
"(The girl) may be wrong in identifying him as the father of her unborn child but her assertion, at a time when she was supportive of him, indicates that they had had sexual intercourse. On the totality of the evidence I find they so did and that Sarfraz Riaz is lying when he denies the same."
Mr Justice Keehan said the girl had suffered a "difficult childhood", had frequently run away from home and had been made the subject of a police protection order when she was 13 after going missing for six days.
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He said when in her early teens she had placed herself in situations of "grave risk", and had been seen getting in and out of cars "in the company of adult Asian males".
He said she had been accommodated by Birmingham City Council when in her early teens and police and social workers had concluded that she was at risk of "significant harm".
The judge was told that more recently the girl had been found in hotel rooms and around cars with men by police in Birmingham.
Police decided there was "insufficient evidence" to secure criminal convictions against the 10 men, so the council applied to the High Court for civil injunctions to protect the girl.
Mr Justice Keehan said: "I am satisfied that each of these (men) sexually exploited (the 17-year-old girl)."
He had made orders against: Mohammed Anjam, Omar Ahmed, Naseem Khan, Mohammed Javed, Shah Alam, Sajid Hussain, Rahman Aziz, Imran Uddin, Mansur Ahmed and Mr Riaz.
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