Rochdale child rapist 'fled custody for second time' in Pakistan

Choudhry Hussain spent a year in a Pakistani jail prior to his extradition

A man who fled to Pakistan to avoid being jailed for raping a girl tried to escape justice for a second time after being caught, a court has heard.

Choudhry Hussain was convicted in his absence in 2015 for historical sexual offences against the underage girl in Rochdale and sentenced to 19 years.

After he was eventually detained in Pakistan, villagers ran after him when he bolted from a police car, Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

He was jailed for eight more months.

That sentence, for absconding, is to be served on top of the one he received for abusing the girl alongside other members of a grooming gang.

Hussain, 42, formerly of Mayfield Terrace, Rochdale, skipped bail part way through giving evidence in his trial after persuading the judge to let him attend a fictitious family funeral.

Police arrested Hussain in Pakistan following an international manhunt

Hussain was eventually traced and was arrested in January 2019 in Punjab. He was brought back to the UK on Tuesday.

He made a run for it from the police car and villagers joined the chase and helped officers apprehend him, the hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

Judge David Potter said Hussain's absconsion had "added a most appalling insult to the most appalling injury" his victim had suffered.

Hussain's barrister Gemma Maxwell said he had spent 12 months in jail awaiting the outcome of extradition hearings and during that time he had been attacked.

However, the judge said he was paying no regard to the time Hussain spent in jail in Pakistan, telling him: "You were the author of your own misfortune."