Three members of grooming gang which targeted teenage girls in 1990s jailed

Two girls who were passed between men in a grooming gang for sex were treated as “authoresses of their own misfortune” by police and social services, a judge said, as he jailed three of those involved.

Ibrar Hussain, 47; Imtiaz Ahmed, 62; and Fayaz Ahmed, 45, were sent to prison for six-and-a-half years, nine years, and seven-and-a-half years respectively at Bradford Crown Court on Friday, by a judge who described how they raped one of the girls in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the 1990s, when she was 13 or 14.

Only Hussain left the dock to start his sentence, as the Ahmed brothers both absconded during their trial and are believed to be abroad, the court heard.

The three are the latest of eight defendants who have been jailed in relation to the abuse of the two girls, it can now be reported.

In a statement read to the court, one of the girls, who is now in her 40s, said: “I feel that if I had been listened to sooner, rather than later, my life could have been different.”

She said she “became an object – used and abused from the age of 13”.

She added: “Nothing in the world can ever fix the damage they caused me. Because of them I have lost my identity.”

Almost thirty years after the abuse, the girl said she still suffers flashbacks “in my waking life and in my nightmares”.

She said the trauma left her unable to trust people, “including the services there to protect me, but didn’t”.

The woman said: “Still, to this day, I carry shame.”

She said: “I went through too much too young. I’m still trying to fix the trauma that others inflicted on me.”

And she said: “I hope that, once this is over, I may finally be able to move on with my life and reach my potential.”

Judge Ahmed Nadim said the girl’s mother went to Keighley police station on a number of occasions to report her missing, but officers “did not do anything about it”.

Judge Nadim said: “To differing degrees, the social services and police response to the situation (the girls) found themselves in was that they were the authoresses of their own misfortune”.

He described how the girls were plied with drugs and alcohol as they were passed between numerous men, “virtually all of whom were of Asian heritage”, in the town in the 1990s, when they were in their early teens.

The judge explained how the girls each had “unhappy home lives” and one was bullied in school.

He said this left them “vulnerable to sexual exploitation” and the “lure of older men that other girls wanted to be with”.

The judge said they misguidedly thought they were getting the “compassion, care and attention” they were lacking at home, but this turned into rape and abuse.

He said one of the girls was raped twice by Hussain in a basement after he plied her with heroin.

She was also raped on a school field by Fayaz Ahmed after he met her when he was introduced by a man and woman who were operating her as a sex worker.

Judge Nadim said: “The message must go out loud and clear that the criminal justice system will do all it can to protect young and vulnerable members of our community.”

He said he hoped the girls would find it a “comfort to know that their voices, at long last, have been heard”.

Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Greenbank, of Bradford District Police, praised the courage of the girls, who reported the abuse in 2016.

She said: “I hope this sends a clear message that, regardless of how long ago these offences may have happened, we will pursue every avenue to get justice.”

West Yorkshire Police said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the Ahmed brothers and “inquiries are ongoing to locate them”.

Michael Quinn, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said the men’s actions were “wicked, vile and sordid”.

He said: “These convictions send a very clear message that the CPS, working alongside law enforcement colleagues, will relentlessly pursue justice for victims and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, whenever that abuse took place.”

The three defendants were found guilty of rape at the end of a trial which finished in December.

It can now be reported that five other men were jailed following a previous trial, which finished in October 2023.

The longest sentence was given to Mohammed Din, 47, of Keighley, who was jailed for 14 years for 11 counts of rape. He is the only one of the eight defendants who was convicted of raping both the girls, West Yorkshire Police confirmed on Friday.

All the other convictions related to one of the girls, they said.

As well as Din, those sentenced in October 2023 were: Amreaz Asghar, 47, of Keighley, who was jailed for four-and-a-half years for rape; Perwaz Asghar, 50, of Nottingham, who was jailed for six-and-a-half years for two indecent assaults; Sajid Mahmood Khan, 45, of Keighley, was jailed for three years for rape; and Zehroon Razak, 47, of Keighley, who was jailed for six-and-a-half-years for rape.

A 47-year-old man was found not fit to stand trial. A trial of facts took place and concluded that he did commit the act involved in the rape charge. He will be sentenced at a later date.