All six defendants deny the charges against them
File photo of Bristol Crown Court(Image: BPM MEDIA)
Six men are due to go on trial in Bristol after being charged with a range of serious sexual offences against multiple teenage victims.
The men are accused of being part of a wider group accused of committing sexual offences and sexual exploitation against vulnerable girls, a court has heard.
The trial into the alleged crimes of the six defendants is due to start next week at Bristol Crown Court.
All six defendants deny the charges against them. However, there are reporting restrictions in place which mean that the vast majority of the trial cannot be reported while it is ongoing.
In making the order mandating reporting restrictions at Bristol Crown Court today (May 14), Her Honour Judge Moira Macmillan said there would be a substantial risk to the fairness of the trial if it was allowed to be reported on contemporaneously.
Several media outlets, including Bristol Live, made an application challenging the reporting restrictions.
Some reporting was subsequently permitted but only the ‘fact of the trial, the general nature of the trial’ and the existence of the restrictions themselves. No evidence is allowed to be reported while it is ongoing.
The judge conceded the trial was taking place amid an environment of significant public interest in the activities of so-called ‘grooming gangs’, and transparency in the reporting of such matters.
The alleged offending took place over a period of several years. The trial is expected to last twelve weeks.