The ringleader of a grooming gang has admitted a spate of sexual offences against underage girls.
Ashley William Darbyshire pleaded guilty to 19 charges involving five different victims at Liverpool Crown Court earlier.
Darbyshire, 28, appeared in court after a trial where eight other men were convicted of a raft of offences against a “young and impressionable” girl between the ages of 13 and 15.
Those offences all took place at or near a property in Wigan, Greater Manchester, which became known as the “party house”.
Darbyshire’s offences included three rapes, 12 counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one of taking indecent photographs.
The abuse of the girls happened between 2015 and 2018.
Judge Simon Medland KC told Darbyshire: “I heard in the first trial how your conduct led on to other offences.”
The judge also said Darbyshire, of Bolton Road in Westhoughton, played a “pivotal role in the facts”.
He granted Darbyshire bail because of health problems following a stroke, but told him that a “substantial, immediate custodial sentence is inevitable”.
The earlier trial heard that the girl considered herself to be in a relationship with some of the men but they did not care whether she consented to sex or not.
The prosecution said the defendants were part of a “malign friendship group” who preyed on the girl.
Darbyshire and the others will be sentenced next month.
