Asian grooming gang’s rape of white girls not racist, rules judge
THE Attorney General is to review the sentences of an Asian grooming gang after a judge ruled the exploitation of white girls was not racially motivated.
The judge’s decision meant stiffer penalties for racially aggravated crimes could not be applied in the case of the Newcastle-based sex ring. Judge Penny Moreland said the gang picked out their victims “not because of their race, but because they were young, impressionable, naive and vulnerable”.
John Elvidge, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court the victims were “white, British and female” and the defendants were “of Asian extraction” but insisted there was no direct evidence race had played a part in the gang’s process for selecting the girls.
Official sentencing guidelines stipulate that prison terms must be increased if crimes are racially motivated.
Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General, is set to examine the jail sentences after a former justice minister referred the case for review.
A total of 17 men and one woman have been convicted of almost 100 offences including rape and human trafficking of vulnerable women and girls following a Northumbria police investigation. Some members of the gang are being sentenced this week, with two men jailed yesterday.
Mohammed Azram, 35, was sentenced to 12 and a half years for sexual assault, supplying drugs and conspiracy to incite prostitution, while Jahanger Zaman, 45, was jailed for 29 years for rape, conspiracy to incite prostitution and supply of heroin. Other members of the gang received shorter sentences as long ago as 2015 including 10 years for Solful Islam, 35,
‘This looks racially motivated based on the evidence. I don’t understand the judge’s ruling’
who was convicted of raping a 15-yearold white girl.
Lord Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said he was in no doubt that “aspects of the case are profoundly racist”. Lord Macdonald said: “They would certainly get stiffer sentences if the offending is racially aggravated.”
Mike Penning, a Conservative MP and former justice minister, said: “I have asked the Attorney General to look into this case. This looks racially motivated based on the evidence. I don’t understand the judge’s ruling that this cannot be racially motivated.”
In a previous case, linked to the gang, one member expressed his contempt for white women when he was challenged by a ticket inspector on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Badrul Hussain, 37, who was convicted of drug offences but cleared of inciting prostitution, told her: “All white women are good for one thing, for men like me to f--- and use as trash. That is all women like you are worth.”
In a victim impact statement, one girl described the men who got her addicted to drugs as “monsters”.
Another said: “The way they tricked us into thinking they were our friends was disgusting.” A third said: “They made me feel like a piece of meat, and that makes me feel sick.”
The case has clear similarities with sex grooming scandals involving predominantly Asian men abusing white females in towns including Rotherham and Rochdale.
Judge Moreland said although the crimes were not racially motivated she was handing down the harshest sentences she could.
She said: “This is extremely serious offending against vulnerable members of society and that is the basis on which I intend to sentence.”