Huddersfield grooming gang members jailed for abuse
- Published
Mohammed Akram, Niaz Ahmed, Mohammed Imran Ibrar and Asif Bashir were found guilty of a total of 10 offences
Four "depraved" men have been jailed for raping and abusing three victims of a Huddersfield child grooming gang.
They were part of a gang of 20 men who groomed and abused 15 girls, some as young as 11, between 2004 and 2011.
The men Mohammed Akhtar, Niaz Ahmed, Mohammed Imran Ibrar and Asif Bashir were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after being convicted of 10 offences.
Akhtar, Ahmed, Ibrar and Bashir, all from Huddersfield, were jailed for between three and 17 years each.
Jailing the men, Judge Simon Phillips QC said: "The way that you treated these girls defies understanding, this abuse was vile and wicked."
During their trial, jurors heard Akram, Ahmed, Ibrar and Asif - known locally as Kid, Shaq, Bully and Junior - were part of a gang that deliberately targeted vulnerable, young girls for their own sexual gratification.
The leader of the grooming gang, Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 35, was sentenced last month to life in jail with a minimum term of 18 years.
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Prosecutor Richard Wright QC said: "These men cared only for themselves and viewed the girls as objects to be used and abused at will."
The defendants used alcohol, dugs and violence to "bend the girls to their will", he said.
The abuse took place in and around Huddersfield between 2004 and 2011
Akram was convicted of repeatedly raping one girl from the age of 15.
At the time his victim believed she was in a relationship with Akram, but said all it consisted of was "drink, drugs and sex".
She told the court on one occasion Akram drove her to a shop where she was taken upstairs and raped by an unidentified man.
Ahmed was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the same girl when he attempted to force his hand into her underwear during a party at his house.
He was also found to have forced another girl to perform a sex act on him in the car park of a former snooker club in Manchester Road while three other men watched.
The girl told the court she had only done what she was told as she was "terrified" of the men in the car.
16 other members of the grooming gang were jailed in October
Bashir was convicted of rape and attempted rape of a 16-year-old he convinced was in a relationship with him.
The girl, who had already been groomed and abused by other men, said over time Bashir became aggressive during sex.
She told the court: "He was always coming to my house and he was always trying it. I would be saying no but he would do it anyway."
Ibrar was convicted of a charge of trafficking for sexual exploitation and assault.
'Immense bravery'
The court heard he had tried to get a girl to perform a sex act on him after driving up on to the moors near Oldham and then assaulted her when she refused.
The girl said she had then been left bloodied and bruised and had to flag down in the early hours of the morning to get home.
A spokesman for the NSPCC said: "The immense bravery of the survivors in this case has ensured that four more members of this predatory gang have been brought to justice.
"These depraved men groomed, exploited and then repeatedly sexually abused vulnerable girls."
The convicted men:
Mohammed Akram, 33, of Springdale Street, Huddersfield, guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, sentenced to 17 years
Niaz Ahmed, 54, of Woodthorpe Terrace, Huddersfield, guilty of sexual assault and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sentenced to five years
Mohammed Imran Ibrar, 34, of Manchester Road, Huddersfield, guilty of trafficking for sexual exploitation and assault, sentenced to three years
Asif Bashir, 33, of Thornton Lodge Road, Huddersfield, cleared of one charge of sexual activity with a child but guilty of, rape and attempted rape, sentenced to 11 years
- Published19 October 2018
- Published19 October 2018
- Published19 October 2018
- Published19 October 2018
