Berlusconi 'had sexual relations one at a time every 5 minutes'

As Silvio Berlusconi undergoes formal trial for paying a juvenile prostitute and then abusing his authority to cover up the fact, a witness has come forward with apparently damaging evidence against him.

Nadia Macri, a prostitute who went to a police station in Milan to give a statement, in which she revealed that that after sharing a swimming pool with an allegedly nude prime minister and five or six other girls, she watched as he headed for a room used for massages.

"After a bit, he said: 'Next one. Next one.' And every five minutes we opened the door and had sexual relations. One at a time," the Guardian quoted her as saying.

She also told a television interviewer she had been with Karima el-Mahroug (known as Ruby Rubacuori) at a party in the Italian prime minister's mansion.

Macri said that on 24 April last year the then 17-year-old Mahroug was dancing topless and a bit drunk round a pole in a specially equipped room at Berlusconi's home outside Milan.

According to Macri's account, she and Ruby both received 4,250 pounds from Berlusconi for attending his party.