Once of the victims, known as Sarah, spoke about her experiences at the hands of the gang:

One of the gang convicted of grooming vulnerable girls on Tyneside told his wife he was going night fishing before he picked up a drunk 15-year-old on the street and raped her.

Saiful Islam, 35, of Strathmore Crescent, Newcastle, spotted his victim outside a supermarket in the West End of Newcastle on his way home from work in 2011 and returned after making an excuse to his wife.

Image source, Northumbria Police

He then bought the victim Malibu, took her to premises where he and friends knew they could abuse girls, and coerced her into having sex.

At a hearing in January 2016 which can only be reported now, Judge Penny Moreland sentenced him to 10 years, saying: "She was young, she was scared and she was a girl limited in her ability and understanding.

"You hurt her while you were raping her."

Another defendant was jailed for witness intimidation and assault after telling a young girl he had seen in the street that "everybody wanted her six feet under".

In four separate trials, 17 men and one women were found guilty of, or admitted, offences including conspiracy to incite prostitution, rape and drugs.

Many of the perpetrators were from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Asian backgrounds.

Fiona Trott reports:

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has praised the bravery of victims of a gang who abused vulnerable girls on Tyneside.

Jim Hope, from the CPS, said: "These men systematically groomed and abused vulnerable teenage girls and young women over a number of years for their own sexual gratification.

"Some have already received significant prison sentences for their actions and others still face sentence.

"These prosecutions would not have been possible without the bravery shown by the victims and the courage they showed in giving their evidence of what had happened to them.

"The impact of the abuse these young women suffered has been profound but I hope these convictions can offer them some comfort and help them move forward."

Outstanding sentencing hearings for the remaining defendants are expected to take place next month.

Andrew Norfolk, The Times journalist who is credited by many for breaking what has been described as a conspiracy of silence over the issue of Asian grooming gangs said: "Here was a crime pattern that had existed for at least two decades from the very first day we ran our very first article, in January 2011, saying 'here is this conspiracy of silence, in acknowledging this why are you not acknowledging that this pattern exists?'.

"From that day one when we said is what is absolutely, crucially, needed is research to understand why this pattern has put down such deep roots. That research is still not being carried out."

Chief Constable Steven Ashman said: "Why is it that there appears to be a predominance of this type of offending in a particular community? I think that community has to be asked that question...

"I think we can take part in that debate, but it's not led by the police, it's a job for society itself..."

Operation Shelter, which has resulted in the conviction of a grooming gang from the West End of Newcastle, was one of a number of spin-offs from Operation Sanctuary.

This was launched in late 2013, to investigate claims of sexual abuse against vulnerable women and girls.

Police took to the streets handing out leaflets in a publicity drive, as dozens of potential victims came forward.

Such was the scale of the inquiry, that it split off into more than a dozen operations, with Shelter focussing on reports of girls being abused at parties at addresses in the west end of Newcastle.

The number of defendants led to four separate trials - the first commencing in September 2015 - with reporting restrictions in place until the final one concluded, earlier today.

The use of a convicted child rapist as an informant during an investigation into the sexual abuse of vulnerable girls was "inside accepted policy", a police chief has said.

XY - who also had a string of other convictions - was paid £10,300 by Northumbria Police.

Chief Constable Steven Ashman said he was content that dangerous men had been put behind bars and that he would do "exactly the same thing again".

He said: "In some cases we have actually saved lives on the back of information that we have gained, and am I going to take that risk again? You're damn right I'm going to.

"It's inside the law, inside accepted policy and practice. I get that people might be quite shocked by it, but actually this is the right thing to do."

More than 20 girls became the "vulnerable victims of an organised, cynical, systematic organisation in which they were passed between their abusers", Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

The 22 victims - aged between 14 and 24 - were befriended and taken to parties, or "sessions", where alcohol and drugs were freely available.

They were then forced to have sex with the men.

Some spoke of being "too intoxicated" to defend themselves, others became addicted and had to commit sexual acts in return for drugs.

One victim said she had been to 60 such parties, and spoke of seeing two older men at one of them with a woman, who seemed "frightened and scared, like a slave".

It has now emerged that during the course of Operation Shelter the force paid the convicted rapist to act as an informant.

XY as he was known - he cannot be named for legal reasons - was tasked with finding out when the parties were happening, and letting police know.

He had a string of criminal convictions, and had previously been jailed for seven years for attacking a 15-year-old girl, whom he plied with drink and drugs and gang raped with two of his friends.

Sammy Woodhouse, who was 14 when she was abused by a grooming gang in Rotherham and now advises police forces on how to tackle grooming, described his payment of £10,300 as "absolutely outrageous".

She said: "If I were in [his rape victim's] situation I'd be absolutely disgusted by it.

"For me that would be a real kick in the teeth and I'd think 'this is a man that could have destroyed my life, that fetched me so much hurt and pain and he's been rewarded for that'."

A gang has been convicted of abusing vulnerable girls who were plied with alcohol and drugs and taken to parties where they were forced to have sex.

The victims from Newcastle, some as young as 14, were often from a troubled background and at least one was in care.

In four separate trials, the 17 men and one women were found guilty of, or admitted, offences including conspiracy to incite prostitution, rape and drugs.

Three have been jailed. The rest will be sentenced next month.

Duncan Leatherdale
BBC News Online

Two former police officers whose phones were illegally monitored by their own force have been awarded £3,000 compensation.

Cleveland Police has already apologised to the officers - Mark Dias and Steve Matthews (pictured) - two journalists and a solicitor whose phones were accessed while investigating leaks to the media.

An Investigatory Powers tribunal ruled the force's actions were not proportionate.

The tribunal said the invasion of privacy was "serious and distressing".

Cleveland Police accessed phone records of the officers and Northern Echo journalists for four months in 2012 under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) legislation.

The force claimed it was concerned information was being illegally leaked to the media.

Graham Thurston died in hospital after being found unconscious behind a Newcastle nightclub.

Ten years on Alistair Darling remembers the moment the financial crash began which included a run on Northern Rock

Bob Cooper
Political reporter, BBC Cumbria

Police have said the death of a man who was found unconscious behind a Newcastle nightclub is not linked to hate crime.

Graham Thurston, 54, was discovered in the early hours of 6 August behind Powerhouse nightclub in Westmoreland Road.

Mr Thurston, of Chirton West View in North Shields, died later in hospital.

A short statement from Northumbria Police said: "Despite concerns that the death of Mr Thurston could be linked to hate crime, officers can confirm this is not the case."

A 33-year-old man from Gateshead has been charged with manslaughter and is due to appear at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court later.

Listen to BBC Radio Cumbria as Newcastle Thunder host Barrow Raiders in the League One Super 8s.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Newcastle

Disappointing news from Grace Road, where the umpires called off the match with the rain coming down heavily in Leicester.

A draw does neither of the Division Two sides any good to be honest, as they remain in the bottom two places in the table.

Despite the result, the match will be a memorable one for 21-year-old Cameron Steel who scored an impressive 224 in just his 15th first-class game.

A driver says the place where three people were killed was prohibited to spectators as it was very dangerous.

Helen Richardson
BBC Newcastle

A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl from County Durham are among the children who have been excluded from school for sexual misconduct, new figures show.

Government figures show more than 2,000 children in England were suspended or expelled last year for the same reason - with incidents including sexting, sexual assault, watching pornography and explicit graffiti.

It follows an investigation by BBC Newcastle last month which revealed thousands of children across England and Wales have been investigated by police for sexting since 2013.