Seven men in northern England have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for sexually abusing and raping two teenage girls, in one of the latest convictions linked to the UK’s long-running grooming gang scandals.
The men were handed a combined total of 174 years in prison for offences committed in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006. The abuse began when both victims were just 13, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Prosecutors said the girls came from vulnerable backgrounds and were known to social services, with one living in the care system. The men groomed them with gifts and money, and often supplied alcohol or drugs before carrying out the assaults.
At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, the group’s ringleader, 64-year-old Mohammed Zahid, received a 35-year sentence. The other six — Mushtaq Ahmed, 66; Kasir Bashir, 50; Roheez Khan, 39; Mohammed Shahzad, 43; Nisar Hussain, 41; and Naheem Akram, 48 — were jailed for between 12 and 39 years.
All seven denied the charges but were unanimously convicted.
“These seven men preyed on vulnerability for their own depraved sexual gain,” said Detective Chief Inspector Guy Laycock, the senior investigating officer. “The men abused, degraded and then discarded the victims when they were just children. This horrific abuse knew no limits, despite their denials throughout this lengthy investigation and court case.”
Grooming gangs, involving the systematic exploitation of vulnerable girls, became a national scandal in the UK in the early 2010s. Investigations revealed that many perpetrators were known to authorities long before they faced prosecution.
The issue resurfaced earlier this year after a series of controversial social media posts by Elon Musk, which reignited political debate. It followed reports that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips had rejected calls for a government-led inquiry, saying such investigations should be commissioned locally.
In June, the British government announced that police in England and Wales would begin collecting ethnicity and nationality data in child sexual abuse cases. A review found these issues had often been “shied away” from in past investigations.
A 2014 review into Rotherham estimated that 1,400 children were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013, mostly by men of Pakistani descent. It highlighted serious failings by local authorities and police, as well as officials’ “nervousness” about identifying perpetrators’ ethnic backgrounds for fear of being labelled racist.