Sex monsters who ruled a town
Police say sorry to child victims as Rotherham gang convicted at last
A FAMILY of ‘untouchable’ Asian paedophiles who triggered the Rotherham sex abuse scandal were convicted yesterday, two decades late.
Victims, who were ignored during years of rape and other appalling violence, watched from the gallery at Sheffield Crown Court as a string of guilty verdicts were returned.
The trial heard the Hussain family had ‘ruled Rotherham’, using influence with local police to escape prosecution for abusing underage girls.
Arshid Hussain was said to have had children with at least seven ‘English’ girls but did not know their names. Many more underage victims became pregnant after being enticed into the married man’s web, and underwent abortions. The Hussain brothers drove around town in a sports car with gold wheels and the girls were flattered by the attention. Once under their control the youngsters were raped, beaten and forced into prostitution to get money for them.
One victim said long-time criminal Arshid ‘thought he was invincible. He thought he was ten men. He thought he was God’s gift to every- thing, everybody and anything that walks the planet.’ Chief Supt Jason Harwin, Rotherham police commander, apologised to the girls for the force’s failure to act earlier.
He said: ‘Victims say we have let them down and we agree we could have done more.’ He added that police officers who made mistakes would be held to account. The youngsters reported their abusers to police and social services at the time but their ordeals were ignored. It took a newspaper probe years later to expose Arshid, 40, and other men of Pakistani heritage for sexually exploiting white girls as young as 11 in the South Yorkshire town.
Arshid, his two younger brothers Basharat and Bannaras, an uncle and two women who provided underage girls for the paedophiles will be sentenced tomorrow.
It emerged last night that:
- The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating more than 194 allegations in 55 cases over how South Yorkshire Police dealt with child sex exploitation in Rotherham;
‘He thought he was invincible’
- A corrupt policeman is the subject of a criminal inquiry after he was accused of having sex with girls in the houses used by the paedophile ring;
- Muslim leader Mohammed Shafiq, distantly related to some of the defendants, said it was a ‘sad reality’ that Pakistani men were disproportionately represented in grooming gangs and called on his community to accept there was a problem, and
- Rotherham’s Labour MP Sarah Champion said she did not think organised abuse was worse in the town than anywhere else, and claimed it occurs in ‘every town and village’.
The 10- week trial involved 61 offences against 12 girls over 16 years to 2003. After more than four days of debate, the jury returned 45 guilty verdicts yesterday.
The now severely-disabled Arshid – known as ‘Mad Ash’ around Rotherham – was convicted of 23 offences while Basharat, 39, was found guilty on 15 counts. Bannaras, 36, admitted nine charges before the trial began.
Offences against the Hussains dated back 25 years. One girl in a children’s home was forced to have sex with up to three men a day – when she told staff they accused her of covering up for running away.
Shocking details of police corruption, neglect and failure were revealed in court by the abuse victims.
One victim named corrupt police officer Kenneth Dawes and revealed how he ‘used to have sex with girls’ in the houses where the child sex ring would gather.
She also told the court PC Dawes – the subject of a criminal inquiry and still officially a serving officer – ‘used to take drugs from people’ and give them to one of her violent abusers.
Another police officer, Hassan Ali, died last year from injuries he suffered in a road accident on the day he was put on restricted duties because of a corruption inquiry. He was involved in an illicit deal allowing Arshid to hand over a schoolgirl in return for him escaping investigation. The PC was said to have asked the same child ‘out on a date’.
The widespread sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham was revealed in August 2013 by The Times newspaper, which named Arshid Hussain as a ‘man who stole childhoods’.
A criminal inquiry was launched and Professor Alexis Jay led an independent inquiry into the scandal.
Her revelation in August 2014 that around 1,400 girls were abused in the town between 1997 and 2013, pre- dominantly by men of Pakistani heritage, exposed failings by authorities.
More victims came forward which led to the Hussain brothers standing trial in December.
Outside court yesterday one victim, known as ‘Jessica’, said of Arshid: ‘For the last 16 years I have lived in fear and pain, I have fought for justice and I haven’t been able to move forward with my life. My bright future was destroyed by this arrogant paedophile who was a master manipulator. Finally I have the closure I need. Now I can be free of him.’
Police praised girls for their courage in speaking out. Temporary Det Chief
‘I lived in pain and fear for 16 years’
Insp Martin Tait called the verdicts a ‘crucial milestone for those victims and survivors who endured years of violence and horrific sexual abuse at the hands of these vile individuals’.
Officers could soon be on trial themselves for their roles in the scandal. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is involved in 55 investigations into how South Yorkshire Police dealt with child sex abuse in Rotherham. There are more than 194 allegations by 41 complainants.
Arshid Hussain, who claims to be a paraplegic, was deemed unfit to attend court and followed the trial from bed at home via video link. He was convicted of offences against
nine victims including rape, indecent assault, false imprisonment, abduction and procuring for unlawful sex.
Basharat was convicted of similar offences against four girls. Their uncle Qurban Ali, 53, a partially- sighted taxi boss, was found guilty of conspiracy to rape.
Children’s charity boss Karen MacGregor, 58, was found guilty of four offences including conspiracy to rape and false imprisonment. years after providing girls for abusers she hid her shameful past and founded Kinkids to help relatives raising children who can no longer live with their parents.
Shelley Davies, 40, was convicted of conspiracy to procure a woman to be a prostitute and false imprisonment.
Bannaras Hussain earlier admitted nine charges involving seven victims, including rape and indecent assault.
Mr Shafiq, chief executive of the ramadhan Foundation, said: ‘In the case of on- street gang grooming, there is an over-representation of Pakistani men. Until British Pakistanis accept that this is a problem for our community we will not be able to eradicate this evil. Burying our head in the sand as the usual response is not good enough. This is not a white conspiracy ... or victimisation of the Pakistani community. This is a concerted effort by a minority of Pakistani men who have groomed, abused and raped young white girls.’
rotherham MP Miss Champion told BBC radio 4’s PM she did not believe organised abuse was worse in the town than anywhere else.