Rochdale grooming gang ringleader jailed for 35 years

Mohammed Zahid was known as Boss Man and attacked the girls from when they were aged 13

A grooming gang ringleader who raped two schoolgirls in Rochdale has been jailed for 35 years.

Mohammed Zahid, 65, known as Boss Man, gave the girls free underwear from his market stall, expecting regular sex for him and his friends in return.

The father-of-three, who showed a "chilling disregard" for the girls, was one of seven men convicted in June of committing a raft of sexual offences between 2001 and 2006.

Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, Kasir Bashir, 50, Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, Nisar Hussain, 41 and Roheez Khan, 39, also received lengthy prison sentences at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

The court heard how the girls were sexually exploited from the age of 13 in filthy flats, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses in the Greater Manchester town.

Referred to as Girl A and Girl B, they were treated as "sex slaves" and expected to "have sex with the men whenever and wherever they wanted".

Both girls, who were not known to each other, had "deeply troubled home lives" and were plied with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes and given places to stay by the men, the court was told.

During the sentencing, Judge Jonathan Seely said the girls' treatment at the hands of the "predatory" men was "appalling".

"They were abused, degraded and then discarded," he said.

"It would have been obvious to these men that they craved the attention that their home lives didn't provide.

"They felt they had little or no choice but to submit to the almost incessant sexual abuse meted out to them."

The paedophiles all worked either at the market or as taxi drivers, the court heard.

Nisar Hussain, Roheez Khan and Naheem Akram were also convicted

Girl A told the jury she may have been preyed on by hundreds of men as her phone number was passed around, adding "there was that many it was hard to keep count".

She told local children's services in 2004 that she was "hanging around" with groups of older men, drinking and smoking cannabis, the court heard.

Girl B, who was living in a children's home when she came into contact with the men on the market, said police and social workers knew what was going on but "weren't concerned enough to do anything about it".

"It was in my file, when I looked it up. I read it," the woman, now aged in her 30s, told the court.

"I was picked up by the police for loitering and prostituting from the age of 10."

Social services and police have previously apologised for their past failings regarding the girls.

Mohammed Shahzad, Mushtaq Ahmed and Kasir Bashir were found guilty following a trial

The convictions and sentences in full were as follows:

• Pakistan-born Mohammed Zahid, 65, of, Station Road, Crumpsall, was convicted of raping Girl A and Girl B, indecency with a child and procuring a child to have sex and was jailed for 35 years

• Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, of Corona Avenue, Oldham, and Kasir Bashir, 50, of Napier Street East, Oldham, who were also born in Pakistan, were convicted of repeated counts of rape and indecency with a child in relation to Girl B and were jailed for 27 and 29 years respectively

• Mohammed Shahzad, 44, of Beswicke Royds Street, Rochdale; Naheem Akram, 49, of Manley Road, Rochdale; Nisar Hussain, 41, of New Field Close, Rochdale, were convicted of repeated counts of rape against Girl A and were jailed for 26, 26 and 19 years

• Pakistan-born Roheez Khan, 39, of Athole Street, Rochdale, was found guilty of a single count of rape against Girl A and jailed for 12 years

In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years after he was convicted of engaging in sexual activity in 2005 and 2006 with a 14-year-old girl whom he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.

Bashir was sentenced in his absence after he fled the UK before the trial started.

'Depraved sexual gain'

Det Ch Insp Guy Laycock, from Greater Manchester Police, said the men "preyed on the girls' vulnerability for their own depraved sexual gain".

"This horrific abuse knew no limits, despite their denials throughout this lengthy investigation and court case," he said.

"They had a callous disregard for these women when they were girls and continue to show no remorse for their unforgivable actions all these years later."

Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the men exploited the teenagers' "difficult circumstances" and praised them for coming forward.

"Both victims have shown an enormous amount of strength and dignity throughout what has been a lengthy and challenging legal process," she said.

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