'Pathetically short' rape sentences to be reviewed

(L-R) Ibrar Hussain, Fayaz Ahmed and Imtiaz Ahmed were jailed in January

Three men who raped a teenage girl are to have their sentences reviewed by the Court of Appeal after an MP called them "pathetically short".

Ibrar Hussain, 47, and brothers Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed, aged 62 and 45, were convicted of raping a girl in Keighley in the 1990s, when she was 13 or 14.

The three men were sentenced following a series of trials involving eight men and two victims, with Hussain jailed for six and a half years, Imtiaz Ahmed for nine years and Fayaz Ahmed sentenced to seven and a half years.

Following the hearing at Bradford Crown Court in January, Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore wrote to the Attorney General to complain about the sentences handed to all eight men.

He said: "These men committed horrific crimes: rape, exploitation, and the sustained abuse of two 13 and 16-year-old girls in our town.

"They received pathetically short sentences, which have finally been deemed weak enough to be challenged under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) Scheme."

Only Hussain was in the dock to hear his sentence as the Ahmed brothers absconded during their trial and are believed to be abroad.

After the case, Michael Quinn, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said the men's actions were "wicked, vile and sordid".

Lucy Rigby MP, the solicitor general, wrote to Mr Moore saying that she agreed that the sentences of Hussain and the Ahmed brothers met the criteria for challenge and she has referred their case to the Court of Appeal.

She said in a statement: "I was appalled and angered by the exploitation in this case and, after careful consideration, I have referred the three sentences eligible under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme to the Court of Appeal.

"It is now for the court to determine whether to increase these sentences."

The other five men will not have their sentences reviewed as their cases did not meet the ULS criteria.

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