Groom gang get 200yrs

BRITAIN’S biggest grooming gang, who raped and abused girls as young as 11, have been caged for a total of more than

200 years.

The group of 20 Asian men preyed on vulnerable youngsters in Huddersfield – plying them with booze and drugs before carrying out their sick assaults.

They were found guilty of more than 150 offences against

15 girls in the course of three separate trials.

Ringleader Amere Singh Dhaliwal,

35, far right, was jailed for life after a trial earlier this year.

He was told he must serve a minimum of

18 years. Sentencing him, a judge said:

“Your treatment of these girls was inhuman.”

The ring of predators, which included Zahid Hassan, 29, inset, lured youngsters in the West Yorkshire town away from friends and family with flattery and promises of friendship.

Prosecution counsel Richard Wright QC told Leeds Crown Court: “They identify a vulnerable child who is socially isolated and not well supported by friends and family.

“Then they befriend that child and make them feel special – whether that be by simply appearing as someone who wants to spend time with them, or by flattery, or by plying them with drink and drugs.”

Jurors heard that after years of abuse at least one of the victims attempted suicide, and another had to have an abortion. The court was told that the young girls were taken to remote moorland by the men.

They were viciously beaten and told that if they did not do as they were told they would be abandoned there.

The crimes were carried out between 2004-2011. Jailing the men, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC described their crimes as “disgusting and degraded”.

He added: “It is likely that many, if not all, of these girls will never recover from the abuse they suffered.”