Grooming gang members given jail sentences

A group of eight men who were part of a West Yorkshire grooming gang in the late 1990s have been jailed.

Three of the men - Ibrar Hussain, 47, and brothers Imtiaz Ahmed, 62, and Fayaz Ahmed, 45 - who are all from Keighley, were sentenced for rape at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.

They were found guilty of assaults on a girl after a trial in November and December 2024.

Five other men were jailed last year for their involvement. Reporting restrictions on the case have now been lifted, meaning details can be published.

The court heard the offenders had targeted two children.

Hussain and Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed were all sentenced for raping one of the girls, who was aged between 13 and 14 when the offences took place.

Prosecuting, Catherine Duffy described the girl as "extremely vulnerable and isolated at the time that she was targeted."

In a victim impact statement, the woman, who is now in her 40s, said: "If I had been listened to sooner rather than later, maybe, just maybe, my life could have been different.

"I went through too much, too young, and I'm still trying to fix the trauma that other people have inflicted on me."

Judge Ahmed Nadim said the girl's mother had tried to report her missing to police "on a number of occasions", but nothing was done.

Judge Nadim said police and social services were "either ill-equipped to properly understand what was happening at street level", or "disinterested in addressing the needs of [the victims]".

"To differing degrees the social services and police's responses to the situation that they found themselves in was that they were the authoresses of their own misfortunes," he said.

The victim said she was "plied with drugs and alcohol to numb the abuse".

Giving evidence at trial, she recalled one instance where men had been "queuing up" in the corridor of a flat to have sex with her.

She said she was "groomed", then "passed on to other men", and later became addicted to alcohol and drugs, which she used as a "coping mechanism".

"Nothing in this world can ever fix the damage I have been through - because of them I lost my identity."

Hussain, of Mornington Street, was jailed for six-and-a-half years for two counts of rape, to be served concurrently.

He gave the girl heroin and had sex with her on two occasions, Judge Nadim told the hearing. At the time he was aged between 18 and 19.

Mitigating, Jayne Beckett said Hussain, who later served time in jail for drug offences, was now married with children and was a "very, very, very different man" who was involved with his local mosque and school.

Judge Nadim told Hussain his crimes had "come back to haunt you and those who hold you in great affection".

He said: "Messages must go out loud and clear that the criminal justice system will do all it can to protect the young and vulnerable members of our community."

Hussain smiled and waved at his family members in the public gallery before he was taken away to begin his sentence.

The court heard Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed absconded during a retrial last year and were believed to be abroad.

Fayaz Ahmed, formerly of Devonshire Street, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in his absence for two counts of rape.

Imtiaz Ahmed, formerly of Dawson Road, was jailed for nine years in his absence for one count of rape.

Judge Nadim said the brothers were introduced to the victim through a couple who "exercised control" over her.

"They put her out to work as a sex worker," he told the court.

The court heard Imtiaz Ahmed was believed to be 35 and married with children when he raped the girl at a vacant flat above a shop owned by his family.

Judge Nadim said his "pretence of being a family and community man was nothing more than a mere pretence".

Fayaz Ahmed, who sacked his lawyers before absconding, travelled with the girl and another man to either a "school ground or some woods", where they raped her in turn.

Her vulnerability would have been known to Fayaz, who the court heard was aged either 17 or 18 at the time of his offending.

After sentencing the three men, Judge Nadim said he hoped the sentences gave the victims "comfort of knowing that their voices at long last have been heard".

"They have had to tread a painful and arduous path. I commend them both for their courage and steadfastness," he said.

In a statement released after Friday's hearing, West Yorkshire Police named the five men convicted in 2023:

• Amreaz Asghar, 47, of Keighley, who was jailed for four years six months for rape
• Perwaz Asghar, 50, of Nottingham, jailed for six years six months for two indecent assaults
• Mohammed Din, 47, from Keighley, who was sentenced to 14 years for 11 counts of rape
• Sajid Mahmood Khan, 45, from Keighley, jailed for three years for rape
• Zehroon Razak, 47, also from Keighley, who was jailed for six years, six months for rape.

The force said all five had been convicted for offences against the first victim with the exception of Din who was convicted of raping both girls.

Det Ch Insp Vicky Greenbank said: "Cases such as these are incredibly sensitive and complex and it has taken years of painstaking investigation to bring them before the courts."

She also praised both victims for coming forward and said they had both shown "immense patience" with the investigation and "courage" through the court process.

The force said a bench warrant had been issued for the arrests of Imtiaz Ahmed and Fayaz Ahmed.

• Home secretary announces inquiries into grooming gangs

On Thursday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a three-month "rapid audit" looking at the "current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country".

Cooper said the review would look at "ethnicity data and demographics of gangs involved and their victims", and "cultural and societal drivers".

The government would also support "victim-centred" local inquiries in Oldham and up to four other "pilot" areas, she said.

It comes after calls from opposition parties for a fresh inquiry into grooming gangs, including Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley Robbie Moore.

Moore said there were "many, including myself, fearing that the scale of this issue across the Bradford district will dwarf that of Rotherham".

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