Milan magistrates have ordered police to search for a Moroccan nightclub dancer at the centre of a sex trial involving Silvio Berlusconi, now seeking a fifth term as prime minister in an election next year, after she failed to show up in court.

The Moroccan teenager at the centre of the underage prostitution scandal enveloping Silvio Berlusconi insists any damage she has suffered has been at the hands of the media, not the Italian premier.