Carlisle takeaway boss 'hounded 12-year-old girl for sex'
A Carlisle man accused of paying underage girls for sex and running a brothel from his takeaway, "hounded" a 12-year-old for sex, a court has heard.
Azad Miah, 44, was said to have sent her text messages for months.
Another woman said Mr Miah of Warwick Road, began having sex with her when she was 14.
Mr Miah denies eight counts of paying for the sexual services of a child, eight of inciting child prostitution and one count of keeping a brothel.
The prosecution said he carried out a "cold, clinical, calculated exploitation of the desperate and vulnerable".
Carlisle Crown Court was told that the former owner of The Spice of India owner restaurant and takeaway told the 12-year-old that he would give her money for sex and was not bothered about her age.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the girl said he followed her in the street on a number of occasions, and she was forced to change her telephone number because of the text messages.
'Kindness and friendship'
She said she complained to the police, but Stephen Meadowcroft, defending, said there was no record of a complaint.
Another woman told the court that Mr Miah began paying her for sex when she was 14.
Mr Meadowcroft put it to her that she and Mr Miah had a relationship, which did not begin until she was 17, and he only gave her money from time to time.
He said: "What I suggest to you, is that he was not giving you money for sex but out of kindness and friendship."
The trial continues.