'Prolific' rapist who abused underage girls jailed

Ajaz Ahmed inflicted "horrific" sexual abuse on his young victims, police said

A "callous and prolific" child abuser who used his flat and cafe to groom and then rape vulnerable and underage girls has been jailed.

The attacks 56-year-old Ajaz Ahmed inflicted on his five victims were discovered as part of a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) investigation into historical sexual abuse in Rochdale.

In January 2016, detectives identified the first of his victims when a woman disclosed she had been raped by several men at a party at Ahmed's flat on Drake Street in the town when she was aged 13.

Ahmed, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 28 years in prison at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

He was convicted of 23 offences, including the rape and sexual assault of children, following a trial.

When officers first spoke to Ahmed about the rape at his flat, he admitted he owned the property but said he did not know who his tenants were at the time, GMP said.

Police spoke to another woman who said she had been in a coercive and controlling relationship with Ahmed at the age of 15, and he had raped, sexually assaulted and assaulted her on several occasions.

The force said Ahmed subjected her to a "horrific and sustained" period of control and physical and sexual abuse.

A friend of the first victim also told police Ahmed sexually assaulted her the first time she met him, just before her 16th birthday.

Fearing for her safety, she never reported it at the time, police said.

'Vulnerable'

A third woman also reported she was raped by Ahmed.

She met him at a cafe he owned and he offered her one of his flats in exchange for work at the cafe.

Police said he sexually assaulted her whilst she was in the kitchen.

Ahmed also took the vulnerable girl to nightclubs and bought her alcoholic drinks. When she returned home, he took her into the basement of the Drake Street property and raped her.

A fourth victim, aged 15, was also identified during the inquiries.

Ahmed, who she knew as AJ, offered her a room in his Drake Street flat and would let himself in unannounced. She said he regularly raped her.

She said one night Ahmed laughed as he raped her in front of several men he had invited over for a drink.

'Abhorrent'

A fifth victim told officers she met Ahmed when she was 17.

He offered her a place to stay as it was late but said she would have to give the men something in return.

She refused and he took her back to his flat, where he sexually assaulted her.

Det Con Ann Cooper Poole praised the victims' bravery for helping to put Ahmed behind bars.

She said: "It took just one brave survivor to come forward and detail her abuse and it opened up an entire case which resulted in us obtaining evidence that Ahmed was a callous and prolific sex offender.

"These girls had their childhoods and teen years tainted in the most abhorrent way, and they experienced what no one should ever experience."