Rape-accused bagged drugs at addict's home, court hears

A crack cocaine addict let a man accused of raping a girl "bag up" drugs at her home while she went shopping, a court heard.

Sarah Gray, 53, added she did not allow him to use her bedroom, saying she never saw the pair go upstairs together.

The defendant, from Gronant, Flintshire, conceded it was possible her house had been used.

Gray denies perverting the course of justice, assisting an offender and conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.

Mustafa Iqbal, 43, Ziaullah Badshah, 25, and Mohamed Usman Arshad, 36, all from Rhyl, Denbighsire, face charges involving accusations of trafficking for sexual exploitation, the rape of girls aged 14 to 16, supplying drugs and sexual assaults.

Jaswinder Singh, 61, denies conspiracy to traffic two girls and supplying them with cannabis.

Gray told Caernarfon Crown Court on Tuesday she moved to Flintshire from Manchester in 2023 to get off heroin and crack.

But she started using again and began buying off Iqbal.

They became friends, the jury heard, and she met his children and felt like part of the family.

She said Iqbal would come to her house to drop off crack cocaine, which she would get on a "buy now, pay later" arrangement.

A girl, dubbed Child A in court, was always with him and was introduced to her as his girlfriend, the court heard.

"I asked who she was and how old... she said 23," Gray said.

It was heard Child A had gone in the defendant's house between three and six times, but otherwise would stay in the car.

Gray smoked crack with her, she said, when her grandchildren were not visiting.

Iqbal did have a key to the property, she told the jury, which she gave him so he could feed the cat when she was in Manchester.

The relationship between Iqbal and Child A, Gray said, was "quite loving".

"They'd hug," she said, adding: "He adored the ground she walked on."

Iqbal called the defendant one evening "upset" because he said he had been spoken to by the police, the court heard.

He told Gray that Child A was 18 and "under social services" and he was not allowed to see her.

She said she saw them together after that but they never discussed the order.

On the date of an alleged rape of Child A by Iqbal, Gray said messages between them about him visiting her house, and what time she should return with her grandchildren from the park, were about him delivering drugs to her.

Gray said when she arrived back after 18:30 GMT, he was outside in a car with Child A.

"She seemed fine... he seemed normal," she said.

When quizzed about messages in which Iqbal told Gray that Child A had accused him of raping her in Gray's house, she said he told her it was not true.

But he added police would probably come and and strip her bedding, Gray said.

The court heard she texted him to say: "I'm there for you all the way xx".

That afternoon she sent him a message which said: "Bedding in wash".

She told the court that was because she remembered she had already washed the bedding before the conversation about Child A.

The case continues.