Rapist freed early from jail groomed girl aged 12 on Facebook
A GANG rapist freed halfway through his prison sentence used Facebook to groom a 12-year-old girl for sex.
Osman Ali, from Rochdale, was a member of a nine-man Asian grooming ring and jailed for eight-and-a-half years in 2012.
He and two other men took it in turns to rape a college student at knifepoint while filming her ordeal on a mobile phone.
But after being released having served just four years, he went on to target a 12-year-old girl after meeting her through the social media site and convincing her she was his girlfriend.
The child would take taxis to Ali’s sister’s house in Rochdale, telling her parents she was having extra school lessons on Saturday mornings, a court heard.
Instead he took pictures of the girl in her school uniform before raping her many times. Yesterday the 25-year- old was starting a new 14-and-a-half year prison sentence as police praised his victim’s bravery in coming forward and helping take him off the streets.
The case comes amid fears that Roch- dale still has a profound problem with sex abuse, six years after members of a notorious grooming gang in the town were jailed for a total of 77 years.
Ali was arrested last May after his young victim was admitted to hospital having been found walking in a daze in the street and threatening to harm herself.
The girl, who said her ‘boyfriend’ had broken up with her, was found to have his mobile phone number written on her arm.
He began preying on the girl, who is also Asian, in September 2016 after she met his brother via Facebook and Snapchat, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard.
It is thought the youngster initially claimed she was 17, but the court was told she later admitted her true age. In a statement the girl, now 13, said: ‘I was only 12 at the time and he had me lying to my parents about where I was.
‘He used me and he did terrible things to me that I have had to talk to police officers about.
‘We had to get social workers involved and it may affect me in years to come or when I meet future partners.’
She added: ‘My school became aware and some of my friends drifted away from me.
‘I had to visit the court and I used to have bad dreams and wake up in the night.
‘I feel like I am being punished over it all. My dad has had to support me. I feel like I am missing part of my teenage years. The memories of what he has done to me will live on for years.’
Ali, from Rochdale, will be on licence until 2037 under the terms of his extended sentence.
He was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order which strictly limits his access to children under 16 and his use of mobile phones and computers.
Katie Jones, prosecuting, said the girl would lie to her parents that she had Saturday morning studies, but in reality she was meeting Ali almost every week. ‘They would telephone a taxi and go to the home address of his sister’s, where they would go upstairs. She took her clothes off and he would get her to have sex with him,’ she said.
‘There were times when she did not want to engage in sexual activity and he would become angry and upset.’
Ali, who admitted seven counts of rape between October 2016 and May last year, gave no comment in police interviews.
Sentencing him, the judge, Mr Recorder Michael Murray, said: ‘When she met you, she told you that she was 17 but things moved on quickly and it became sexual – and you would have known that she was under 17. Your offending has had a significant effect on the victim for the future. I find you to present a significant risk to the public. It’s necessary to impose an extended sentence to protect the public.’
After the case Detective Constable Ben Harris, of Greater Manchester Police, said Ali was ‘depraved’ and had shown no remorse.
Hundreds of girls as young as 13 were feared to have been abused by gangs in Rochdale before their ordeals were taken seriously.
Former detective Maggie Oliver, who was instrumental in jailing the gang, is convinced other predators who were never brought to justice remain at large.
‘Significant risk to the public’