- Alleged victim, now 34, tells court she was raped by Shah at five-star hotel
- Says prostitute Susan Davies sold her to tycoon to pay her debts
A schoolgirl was repeatedly raped by newspaper tycoon Eddy Shah after being 'sold' to him for £650, a court heard today.
Prostitute Susan Davies allegedly handed the 14-year-old over to the businessman for sex in order to settle her credit card debts.
The victim told a jury at the Old Bailey that she was forced to visit Shah's 'grand' suites with 'high ceilings' in top London hotels and perform sex acts on him.
In the second day of testimony in the rape trial of Shah, Davies and her former lover Anthony Pallant, the woman, now 34, described the first time she was allegedly abused by the founder of Today.
Accused: Eddy Shah, pictured outside the Old Bailey today with his wife Jennifer, is on trial for rape
'I was sold for £650 to pay for credit card bills.'
The tycoon then had sex with her on up to eight occasions over the next 12 months at a series of luxury hotels, she claimed, but never gave her money or gifts.
She said that Davies once told her Shah might buy her a porcelain doll from the Radisson Edwardian hotel.
'He never did buy me one of the dolls,' she continued. 'They were dressed as Tudor Kings and Queens of England. I had an interest in history and the Tudor period.'
Defendants: Susan Davies and Anthony Pallant, pictured outside court today, are also accused of raping the girl
She said she was forced into a threesome with Shah and Davies, at either the Grosvenor House Hotel or the Dorchester.
'She was lying on the bed next to me,' the alleged victim said. 'There was a point when she was giving Eddy Shah oral sex.
‘I was told to take my clothes off. I just wanted it to be over, full stop. He was lying on top of me.
‘What stuck out in my mind was lying on my back and him having sex with me and him looking deep into my eyes - an intense, penetrating look. I remember wondering what he was thinking.'
She said that she had first met Shah at the Grosvenor House Hotel, and Davies had insisted she dress smartly for him.
'She told me he was the owner of Today newspaper,' the alleged victim told the court. 'She used to read the newspaper.
'Eddie always had a suite, it was never a room. It had high ceilings and it was quite grand.'
Tycoon: Shah pictured with Margaret Thatcher at an awards ceremony in 1984
'At that point when they left the room it dawned on me they had left the room to have sex,’ the woman said today.
Then Shah came back into the living room and knelt down in front of her, the court heard.
‘He just asked me if I wanted to go through and join them,’ said the woman. ‘He said it as casually as if he wanted me to join him for lunch or a cup of coffee.
‘I didn’t speak. I just shook my head. I knew exactly what that suggestion meant. I was shocked. I had not anticipated it. I was a bit naive.’
Davies later drove her home and told her: ‘You will be doing it the next f***ing time,’ the court heard.
‘She meant I was to be joining them for sexual activity in threesomes, like she got me involved with Tony Pallant,’ the woman said.
Davies allegedly forced the girl to have sex with her lover Pallant on multiple occasions.
The court has heard how Davies gave the girl a bra, a pair of knickers and a suspender belt on her twelfth birthday and joined in when she was made to have sex with Pallant.
The woman told the court she became ‘robotic’, adding: ‘I knew it wasn’t right but I just complied with what they wanted.’
Shah, who is charged under his real name Selim Shah, ran the now-defunct Today newspaper and was best known for bringing in new technology and colour printing.
He, Davies and Pallant are charged with 13 separate sex attacks on the girl between 1991 and 1995, all of which they deny.
The trial continues.
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