A WOMAN was just 15 when she started befriending vulnerable girls to force
them to work as prostitutes, a court heard yesterday.
Amanda Spencer, now 22, targeted girls as young as 11 and got them hooked on
drink and drugs, it was said.
She told them how to dress provocatively and then touted them to older men and
pocketed the cash they earned, the jury heard.
Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said: “She saw it as far more productive and
profitable to co-ordinate a pool of prostitutes, than to work for drug money
all by herself.
“Many of the victims in this case were in the care system or marked as
‘missing from home’ at the relevant time, those still at home experiencing
difficulties to varying degrees.
“All were lacking in self-esteem and the wherewithal or sense to protect
themselves from exploitation.”
Spencer is accused of exploiting nine girls aged 11 to 20 between 2006 and
2011 in the Sheffield area of South Yorkshire.
Miss Colborne told Sheffield Crown Court: “Exploiter or exploited? A likely
issue for you to consider from the start is whether Amanda Spencer was a
victim herself.
“Whether, having a troubled start, she turned that situation on its head and
lured others into a similar life for her own ends.
“The prosecution say that a victim of exploitation would have known how
degrading and abusive that life was.
“She would have spotted the inevitable vulnerabilities of youngsters like
herself and would have known that by introducing them to drugs and alcohol,
to men for sexual favours, she was introducing them to the same degradation
and abuse.
“Amanda Spencer was a fraud, say the prosecution. She hung around the town
centre identifying and befriending vulnerable children.
“She made them feel loved, she gave them a shoulder to cry on, a friend who
purported to understand whatever sadness they were experiencing in their
lives and in turn lured them into a life of abuse, which she exploited and
profited from.
“She referred to them as her sisters or cousins when asked to account for who
they were by people in authority.
“Although the children knew they were being sold for cash, their own drug and
alcohol addictions were so entrenched that they were incapable to extricate
themselves.
“She told them how to dress more provocatively, to lie about their age and to
close their minds to the reality of the sexual experiences, concentrating
instead on the drugs.
“Those who had the temerity to refuse to do as they were instructed felt her
wrath. She was violent and they were frightened of her.”
Spencer, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, denies arranging or facilitating a
child sexual offence, inciting or causing a child to become a prostitute and
arranging or facilitating the prostitution.
She is on trial alongside five men who are charged with offences connected
with the alleged abuse of the girls.
Lee Unwin, 26, and John McLachlan, 65, of Sheffield, deny paying for the
sexual service of a child.
Kareem Ahmed, 29, is accused of arranging or facilitating travel for the
commission of a sexual offence, and Bashdar Hamadamin, 26, both of
Sheffield, faces a charge of rape.
A fifth man, who cannot be named, denies sexual assault.
All deny the charges. The trial continues.