133 years’ jail for nine who abused girls
Petition to re-nationalise service
RAPIST Basharat Khaliq NINE men have been jailed for nearly 133 years for the grooming and rape of two vulnerable girls.
The victims were taken into local authority care at 14 but staff had no power to stop them absconding.
They were “vulnerable” and lured with alcohol and drugs, prosecutors said.
The men were yesterday convicted at Bradford crown court of 21 offences.
Sentencing them, the judge said the girls were “relentlessly sexually abused following grooming” over “a period of years”. The gang, of Bradford and Dewsbury, are: Basharat Khaliq, 38, jailed for 20 yrs; Saeed Akhtar, 55, 20 yrs; Naveed Akhtar, 43, 17 yrs; Parvaze Ahmed, 36, 17 yrs; Izar Hussain, 32, 16 yrs; Mohammed Usman, 31, 17 yrs; Zeeshan Ali, 32, 18 mths; Kieran Harris, 28, 17 yrs; and Fahim Iqbal, 28, 7 yrs. A CAMPAIGN to bring probation back into public ownership has been launched after one of the biggest private providers collapsed.
It comes after the Mirror revealed how 225 people have been murdered by convicted criminals being monitored by firms since privatisation.
The grim toll soared to 71 last year from 42 in 2015, the year after bungling Chris Grayling introduced the changes as then Justice Secretary – a rise of 60%.
Private probation services have been in crisis since provider Working Links entered administration last week.
The campaign has launched a petition calling on Justice Secretary David Gauke to bring probation into public control. SCANDAL Our story and right, Unison’s Ben Priestley Nadine Marshall, whose son Conner, inset, was murdered, backs petition
Ellen Lees, of the group We Own It, said: “We’ve seen private companies repeatedly fail to meet targets, and downward pressure on working conditions of staff. “The number of convicts committing a serious further offence while under probation has increased by 20%.” The campaign is backed by unions GMB, Unison and NAPO, and the New Economics Foundation think-tank. Unison’s Ben Priestley said: “Probation must return to public control to prevent further disasters.” Harry Fletcher, of the Victims’
Rights Campaign, said the rate of further offences committed was “appalling”.
Nadine Marshall, whose son Conner, 18, was one of the 225, said: “It’s horrific.”
Chief inspector of probation Dame Glenys Stacey warned this month: “The professional ethos has buckled under the strain of commercial pressures.”
The petition can be found at weownit. org.uk/probation-petition Tell us what you think: yourvoice@mirror.co.uk