Zara Phythian and her husband, Victor Marke have been found guilty of a string of child sex charges after a 2-week trial.

The couple were found to have groomed the girl between 2005 and 2008 when she was in her early teens, starting from when she was aged 13. Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court, the pair were found guilty of 14 counts of sexual activity with a child.

The court heard that the alleged abuse began when the child was given Captain Morgan rum by Phythian and asked whether she wanted to play a game of "dares". Phythian then proceeded to dare the child to join in a sex act with her and her husband Victor.

The victim told the court that Marke made threats against her and forced her to film some of the abuse and sexual acts between Phythian and Marke. Despite the victim being able to describe a Chinese calligraphy tattoo located near Zara Phythian's private parts, the actress denied ever having had any sexual contact with the teenager.The victim also described how Victor Marke 'pretended' to be asleep before joining in with the abuse, which she assumed was pre-planned.

The court was told that the victim was abused at least 20 times across the years.After deliberating for over two days, the jurors unanimously convicted the couple on all accounts of abuse. Both defendants appeared emotional in court and Marke denied that he was attracted to girls in their early teens. Breaking down in the witness box, Marke rejected the prosecution's claims that he had "encouraged threesomes" when their victim was 13, 14 and 15 years old.

Following the verdict, Judge Mark Watson has remanded both defendants in custody until next Monday and told the couple that their sentence would "likely to be measured by a considerable period of custody".