Seven men have been convicted of sexually exploiting two teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in a case that highlights the devastating impact of child grooming and sexual abuse. The men, who were found guilty of various sexual offences, targeted the girls when they were vulnerable and exploited them for their own gratification.
The victims, known as Girl A and Girl B, were groomed from the age of 13 and treated as “sex slaves” by the gang. They were plied with drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes and given places to stay by the men, who worked on the town’s market or as taxi drivers. The girls were repeatedly raped and assaulted over a period of five years, with one victim estimating that she may have been targeted by more than 200 men.
The trial heard that the girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were vulnerable to exploitation. The men, who were known to the girls through their work on the market or as taxi drivers, took advantage of their vulnerability and subjected them to horrific abuse. The court heard that the girls were “children passed around for sex, abused, degraded, and then discarded” and that they were expected to “have sex with the men whenever and wherever they wanted”.
The seven men convicted in this case are:
– Mohammed Zahid, 64, who was found guilty of raping both girls and was previously jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case.
– Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, who were convicted of multiple counts of rape and indecency with a child.
– Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, and Nisar Hussain, 41, who were convicted of multiple counts of rape against one of the girls.
– Roheez Khan, 39, who was found guilty of a single count of rape and was previously jailed for six-and-a-half years in another grooming gang case.
Det Supt Alan Clitherow, from Greater Manchester Police’s CSE team, said that the force should have done more at the time to protect the victims. “What is clear is the way those victims were dealt with at the time is indefensible and inexcusable,” he said. “We have made comprehensive apologies for that.” Liz Fell from the Crown Prosecution Service said that the convictions sent “a very clear message” that the CPS and police would “relentlessly” prosecute those who sexually exploit children.
Sharon Hubber, Rochdale Borough Council’s director of children’s services, said that the council knew that more could and should have been done by the people who were working at the time, and for that, they were truly sorry. The NSPCC said that the “appalling, ruthless exploitation” of these vulnerable girls highlighted the need for children to be able to speak out and warned that adults must educate themselves on the signs of grooming.
