HOW MANY MORE GIRLS’ LIVES TORN APART BY SEX GANGS?
First Rochdale. Now Newcastle, where 18-strong grooming gang is convicted of scores of crimes against up to 108 girls
A GANG that exploited vulnerable girls for sex was convicted of nearly 100 crimes yesterday.
In another appalling grooming scandal, 17 men and one woman were found guilty of rape, sexual assault, human trafficking and inciting prostitution. Police
have identified up to a potential 108 victims, some lured off the streets aged as young as 13.
At depraved ‘sessions’ in properties around Newcastle they were expected to offer sex in return for alcohol and drugs.
They would be passed around the close-knit group of men. One gang member was heard to say: ‘White women are only good for men like me to f*** and use as trash’.
Mainly British-born, the abusers were from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish communities.
Their convictions in four trials spark concern that the authorities have failed to the address the issues
ROTHERHAM: In 2010 five Asian men were jailed for sexual offences against under-age girls. A 2014 inquiry found there were more than 1,400 victims of grooming and sexual exploitation in the city from 1997 to 2013.
ROCHDALE: The conviction of nine Asian men in 2012 for grooming young white girls started a national debate. They were jailed for between four and 19 years for offences against five girls of between 13 and 15. In May the BBC broadcast its Three Girls drama based on what happened in the city.
OXFORD: In 2013, five members of a paedophile ring were handed life sentences, and two others jailed for seven years. Six girls, of between 11 and 15, were plied with alcohol and drugs before being made to perform sex acts. All the men were of Pakistani origin apart from two brothers, from north Africa.
BRISTOL: Thirteen Somali men were jailed in 2014 for a total of more than 100 years for running a sex ring. Victims as young as 13 were trafficked across Bristol to be passed around the men’s friends for money.
AYLESBURY: Six Asian men were jailed in 2015 for grooming under-age white girls between 200 and 2012. Victims would be made to have sex for ‘the price of a McDonald’s’.
PETERBOROUGH: Ten men were convicted of child sex crimes, including restaurant boss Mohammed Khubaib, originally from Pakistan. He was jailed for 13 years in 2015.
DERBY: In 2010, nine men – all but one of Pakistani origin – were convicted of abusing 27 girls aged between 12 and 18. Police said there may have been more than 100 victims.