Grooming gang four are jailed
FOUR members of a gang that groomed and sexually abused vulnerable girls were told their crime “defies understanding” as a judge jailed them yesterday.
Some of Mohammed Akram, Niaz Ahmed, Mohammed Imran Ibrar and Asif Bashir’s teenage victims were plied with drugs and alcohol before being abused.
The four were convicted at Leeds Crown Court of offences against the three girls between 2004 and 2010, which were described as part of a cycle of “depravity and exploitation”.
Judge Simon Phillips told them the girls’ victim impact statements made “harrowing reading”.
They included one who felt like “used goods” at just 17 and only managed to escape her abusers when she became pregnant.
The four men were among a 20-strong gang that carried out “inhuman” abuse of a total of 15 girls in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, from 2004 to 2011.
Ringleader
Their prosecution was split into three separate trials. Akram, Ahmed, Ibrar and Bashir were found guilty of 10 offences last month.
It was towards the end of the second of these trials, in May, that English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson was arrested as he reported about the case on Facebook from outside the court.
The gang was spearheaded by ringleader Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 36, of Huddersfield, who received a life sentence in June with a minimum term of 18 years, for 22 rapes involving 11 girls.
The four sentenced yesterday, all from Huddersfield, were jailed for a total of 36 years.
Judge Phillips told Akram, 33, Ahmed, 54, Ibrar, 34, and Bashir, 33: “The way that you treated these girls defies understanding. This abuse was vile and wicked.”
The girls became “conditioned and immersed” in the abuse, the court heard, with one saying in a statement that she felt as though her life was at risk every time she left her house.
Judge Phillips told the court some of the complainants were watching the sentencing via a TV link and said: “It is likely that all of these girls will never recover from the abuse they suffered.”
Akram was jailed for 17 years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and rape and Ahmed received five years for sexual assault and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Ibrar received three years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and actual bodily harm and Bashir was sentenced to 11 years for rape and attempted rape.