Attacker who ‘would have been beheaded in homeland’

ONE of the abusers who groomed teenage girls for sex would have been beheaded or stoned if he committed the same crimes in his home country, the report noted.

The asylum seeker showed ‘ no regret’ for his behaviour even after he was found guilty and attacked the ‘lack of morals’ of British girls.

Before coming to Britain, the man, who was not named, spent ten years in Turkey, around five in Greece and some time in Italy and France. He had hoped to get to Canada.

The report said: ‘If convicted for rape in his home country, he would be beheaded or buried up to the neck and stoned.

‘He was asked about what he thought about the United Kingdom and influences in his education.

‘He said you can get anything here – any sex, drugs, alcohol. There is no control. He spoke in a derogatory way about lack of morals in British girls and did not go with Muslim girls because there are not many of them.’

He exploited a 15-year-old girl – but told the inquiry team he was convicted only ‘because of a conspiracy by the Government, police and the

‘Buried up to the neck and stoned’

judge who paid the victims’. The man was the only one of the abusers to agree to help the investigation.

The report said it was ‘unfortunate’ there was not more input from other perpetrators.

The review noted the abusers were mainly ‘not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and Eastern European’.

The report’s author, child sexual exploitation expert and barrister David Spicer, also criticised the aggressive, ‘inhuman’ cross-examinations carried out by defence lawyers during the trials.

He said: ‘I am aware how easy it is to treat vulnerable witnesses badly. It’s not a difficult process to confuse them and distress them.

‘All the victims we spoke to said they were disgusted with their experience in the court and several of them had to have mental health treatment afterwards as they were suffering from trauma.’

One girl was questioned about material from her local authority records that she had no idea existed, let alone been released to the defence, Mr Spicer said.

He added: ‘Knowingly exposing a vulnerable, damaged person to that experience does seem to be inhuman and degrading treatment because you know they are going to be damaged by the process.’

Victims told Mr Spicer how they were raped while under the influence of drink and drugs.

‘I never had sex when I was sober,’ one said. ‘I wanted to leave. I was given drink. I kept saying no and fighting them off. I was very tired and fell asleep. When I woke, I had been raped.’

The review also said many victims did not realise they were being abused because the perpetrators made them think they were friends.

One girl said: ‘I didn’t think what was happening was wrong. I thought they were my friends. They bought me drink and drugs.’