A schoolgirl was murdered by a fast food shop owner who joked that she had been “chopped up” and had gone into the kebabs, a court heard today.

Charlene Downes, 14, was killed by Iyad Albattikhi, 29, owner of Funny Boyz fast food shop in Blackpool, who it is alleged had sex with the youngster he described as “kinky”, Preston Crown Court was told.

Charlene was one a number of young white girls who went to “Paki Alley” in the town to have sex with older men who worked in the fast food shops, Tim Holroyde QC, prosecuting, told the jury.

Charlene, from Buchanan Street in Blackpool, was “well and happy”, the court heard, but her home life was “chaotic”.

Expelled from school, she spent her time hanging around shops on the Blackpool Promenade, and was last seen on the early evening of Saturday November 1 2003.

Mr Holroyde told the jury a witness heard Albattikhi and others talking about Charlene.

“These people were talking about sex with white girls, and there was mention of having sex with Charlene.

“Albattikhi laughed and said she was kinky and she was very small - the plainest possible indication that he was lying to the police when he said he did not know her.

“He and others present were then laughingly saying that Charlene had gone into the kebabs.”

Albattikhi, a Jordanian immigrant, is charged with murder and his co-accused, his business partner and landlord Mohammed Reveshi, 50, originally from Iran, is accused of helping to dispose of the body.

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