Oxford grooming case council boss to stay

The court heard how vulnerable girls were drugged and suffered sadistic abuse after being groomed

The chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council has insisted she will not resign after the abuse of young girls in the Oxford area.

But Joanna Simons admitted that the council and others "take enormous responsibility for what's happened".

Seven members of a paedophile ring were found guilty on Tuesday of raping and trafficking girls aged from 11 to 15.

The crimes spanned eight years and social services and the police have apologised for not acting sooner.

Ms Simons, who has been the council's chief executive since 2005, said she had asked herself some "very hard questions" about her position.

She said: "There is going to be an independent serious case review which will look at the actions of all the agencies concerned.

"My gut feeling is that I'm not going to resign because my determination is that we need to do all that we can to take action to stamp this out.

"These are devious crimes that are very complicated."

Her comments came after an Old Bailey jury heard six girls were drugged and suffered sadistic abuse.

The court heard victims were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to perform sex acts. Some had also been beaten, burnt and threatened.

Nine men had denied charges including rape, arranging child prostitution and trafficking between 2004 and 2012. Two were acquitted of all charges.

The jury considered the evidence for two-and-a-half days and returned the following verdicts.

Kamar Jamil was found guilty of five counts of rape, two counts of conspiracy to rape and one count of facilitating child prostitution.

Akhtar Dogar was found guilty of five counts of rape, three counts of conspiracy to rape, two counts of child prostitution and one count of trafficking.

Anjum Dogar was found guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of child prostitution, two counts of conspiracy to rape and one count of trafficking.

Assad Hussain was found not guilty of rape and guilty of two counts of sex with a child.

'Long sentences inevitable'

Mohammed Karrar was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to rape, three counts of rape of a child, one count of using an instrument to procure miscarriage, two counts of trafficking, one count of assault of a child by penetration, one count of child prostitution, one count of rape and one count of supplying a class A drug.

Bassam Karrar was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of conspiracy to rape a child, one count of rape of a child, one count of child prostitution, one count of trafficking and one count of conspiracy to rape.

Zeeshan Ahmed was found guilty of two counts of sex with a child.

The judge told the guilty men: "You have been convicted of the most serious offences and long custodial sentences are inevitable."

They are due to be sentenced on 26 June.

The abuse began in Oxford but some of the victims would be later taken around the country to be offered to other men who were in contact with the gang.

Missed opportunities

The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang.

A number of opportunities to catch members of the gang are believed to have been missed.

The Old Bailey was told the key members of the group used and abused the six victims in a systematic and organised sex trafficking ring over eight years until their arrest in 2012.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would look again at its decision to take no further action over allegations involving the girls between 2005 and 2006.

One of the victims had complained to police twice but no-one was charged.