A JURY in the trial of a married couple accused of being Barry’s ‘Fred and Rose West' begun its deliberations this afternoon.

Wife Avril Griffiths, 61, helped Peter Griffiths, 65, rape three teenage girls after befriending them with alcohol and cigarettes, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

She allegedly "groomed" the complaints for her husband to attack over 20 years, the prosecution claim.

One complainant said of the couple: “Everyone hated them.

"They were the Fred and Rose West of the town – people would avoid them.”

Prosecutor Caroline Rees, QC, said the pair would take one girl out in a van painted in the colours of popular 1980s American TV series the A-Team.

She said: “The male defendant would have sex with her in the back of a van while others looked on.”

The court heard the girl was passed around to other men.

Ms Rees said: "She was used in effect as a sex toy for the gratification of others."

The court heard the girl was also taken on a boat in the Bristol Channel where she was raped by Peter Griffiths.

Avril Griffiths also allegedly sexually assaulted the girl on the boat.

Peter Griffiths has claimed that it is he who is the victim in the case.

In cross examination, Ms Rees said to him: “You have a taste for vulnerable teenage girls.

“You groom them step by step, breaking down boundaries sexually and it moves on to photographs and it goes all the way up the scale to rape.”

He replied: “I’m the victim of them, fabricating all these lies.”

Speaking about one alleged victim who Peter Griffiths said he had taken pictures of with a view to publishing them in a pornographic magazine, Ms Rees put it to him: “You took photographs of her, you sexualised her and you raped her and raped her.”

He answered: “Never.”

Avril Griffiths decided not to give evidence and the trial, presided by Judge Jeremy Jenkins, was told that she had been medically assessed as "intellectually disabled". Ms Rees said the couple exploited three victims “in order to satisfy each of their sexual needs” between the 1970s and 1990s.

The couple, of Barry Road, were said to be well-known in the town where they allegedly carried out multiple rapes.

Their alleged third victim said: “I think if you ask most families in Barry, they’d hate them."

She said she had felt “broken” ever since she had been raped by Peter Griffiths as a teenager.

The court heard the couple had bought the girl cigarettes and alcohol and Avril Griffiths had dressed her in mini-skirts and heels to “maker her look like her”.

“She was making me look like her, a mini-me,” she told jury

The court heard they gave one girl vodka before forcing her to pose for indecent photos with them while they were naked.

Peter Griffiths then allegedly raped her and said she could not get pregnant “because he had a vasectomy.”

Avril Griffiths denies five counts of rape, three counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child and two counts of indecent assault.

Peter Griffiths denies eight counts of rape, three counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child and three counts of indecent assault.

Proceeding.