The 20-year-old victim, from Slovakia, was sold to Azam Khan, 34, and held prisoner at his aunt and uncle’s shop in Daneshouse, Preston Crown Court heard.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was kidnapped in mid-August last year while on a night out with her friend.

She was allegedly plied with alcohol in the town of Zemplin, by Imrich Bodor, 44, from Bradford, who is accused of trafficking her for exploitation.

Her identification documents were taken away from her and she was made to travel on a coach for two days to England against her will.

She was told that she was going to the Czech Republic to work, but was instead taken to London, before heading to a house in Bradford.

The victim was said to have been kept there for around two weeks by Bodor and Petra Dzudzova, 25, also from Bradford, who is also accused of trafficking.

The court was told she was then sold to Azam Khan, 34, who allegedly raped her three times and assaulted her twice while keeping her prisoner above his aunt and uncle’s shop, in Brougham Street, Burnley. He denies the charges.

Nusrat, 40, and Mashrafat Khan, 61, of Colne Road, Burnley, also deny charges of trafficking a person for exploitation under the Asylum and Immigration Act.

They are accused of having signed wedding documents at the fake marriage ceremony.

It is also alleged the victim, who comes from a Romany gypsy community in eastern Slovakia, was forced into a sham marriage with Azam Khan at the mosque in Brougham Street.

The court was told that before the ceremony, on October 13 last year, she was given vodka and beer.

A statement from the imam at the mosque confirmed that the marriage took place and said that he had been asked to carry out the ceremony by Azam Khan.

Phillip Boyd, prosecuting, said she had no understanding of what was going on during the ceremony as she spoke no English and she was scared.

Mr Boyd said: “What links all these people together is a series of events which sounds more like something from a 19th century novel by Dickens than anything happening in Europe in the 21st century.

“The victim was handled round the continent and this country like a commodity.

“All the more cruel and inexcusable because being so unable to cope on her own, she was so ill-fitted to do anything about it.

“She may have even been targeted as a victim just because of this, coming as she did from Bodor’s home area.”

Abdul Sabool Shinwary, of Girlington Road, Bradford, who is also on trial for trafficking a person for exploitation, was said to have acted as a ‘link’ between Asians and Eastern Europeans to arrange sham marriages.

Kristina Makunova, 36, of the same address, has admitted charges of arranging a facilitating travel to the UK and false imprisonment.

Mr Boyd said: “All of these defendants are charged with the offence of false imprisonment.

“You might have an image of false imprisonment.

“You may have an image of a cell, high bars and locked doors.

“False imprisonment does not necessarily mean just that.

“It means the intentional restraint on a person's freedom of movement, stopping someone from going where they want to go.

“What stops the person leaving is the fear of the consequences and that can be just as much a bar as a metal bar on a window.

"The essence of treating somebody as a slave is they are not in control of their own movements.

"These defendants simply treated her as a commodity.

"She was a long way from home and she was under constraint.

"They used actual violence and threats of violence.”