Thursday, October 2, 2025 - An
Asian gr0oming gang have been jailed for 174 years in total after two
white schoolgirls were r@ped as they were used as 's£x slaves' from the age of
13.
Their leader, Mohammed Zahid, 65, father-of-three, now
jailed for 35 years, was one of seven Asian men convicted in June by a
jury at Manchester Minshull Street Court of committing various s£xual offences
against the girls between 2001 and 2006.
They were the first Asian gro0ming gang to be
brought to justice since Labour faced accusations of a cover-up for resisting
calls for a public inquiry into how a generation of girls were betrayed by
police and social services.
Both girls were treated as 's£x slaves', said prosecutors,
'amid deeply troubled home lives' as they were given drugs, alcohol,
cigarettes, places to stay, and people to be with.
Soon after, they were expected to have s£x 'whenever and
wherever' the defendants and other men wanted, in filthy flats, on rancid
mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways, and disused warehouses.
The trial also heard how one girl, at the time living in a
children's home, was scandalously dismissed by social workers as having been
'prostituting' herself from the age of ten.
Girl A told the jury she could have been targeted by more
than 200 offenders as her phone number was swapped in the town but said 'there
was that many it was hard to keep count'.
Giving evidence, Girl B said she was living in a local
children's home when she was preyed on by Zahid and fellow market traders
Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, who were all born in Pakistan.
She said she presumed various agencies knew what was going
on as police regularly picked her up after social workers labelled her a
'pr0stitute' from the age of 10.
Zahid, of Station Road in Crumpsall, thought he was 'almost
untouchable' as he brazenly visited the care home to pick her up and later drop
her off, the court heard.
He was convicted of raping Girl A and Girl B, who did not
know each other, on multiple occasions.
Jurors also found him guilty of offences of indecency with a
child and procuring a child to have s£x.
In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years after he was
convicted of engaging in s£xual activity in 2005 and 2006 with a 14-year-old
girl whom he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.
He was one of many men who called her phone number 'out of
the blue' and went on to groom the 'extremely vulnerable' teenager.
Now Ahmed, 67, of Corona Avenue in Oldham, and Bashir, 50,
formerly of Napier Street East in the same town, have been jailed for 27 years
and 29 years respectively after they were found guilty of multiple counts of
r@pe and indecency with a child, in relation to Girl B.
Bashir was sentenced in his absence after he absconded while
on bail before the trial got under way. He is believed to be out of the
country.
Taxi drivers Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, and
Nisar Hussain, 41, all from Rochdale, were all convicted of multiple counts of
r@pe against Girl A.
Both Shahzad and Akram were jailed for 26 years, and Hussain
was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Roheez Khan, 39, also of Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years
after he was found guilty of a single count of rape against Girl A.
Social services and police have apologised for their past
failings surrounding the victims.
Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Seely said: 'Both girls were
highly vulnerable, both had deeply troubled backgrounds and were known to the
authorities.
'They were highly susceptible to the advances of these men
and others, and both were sexually abused by numerous other men.
'They were passed around for s£x - abused, humiliated,
degraded and then discarded.
'Both were seriously let down by those whose job it was to
protect them.'
He said Girl B was 'failed woefully' and noted how she was
'chillingly described' in a social services document as having prostituted
herself at 10 years old.
The judge said both victims had suffered 'incessant abuse',
and as children had been targeted by 'gangs of sexually predatory men'.
Rossano Scarmardella KC, prosecuting, said Zahid had been
'brazen' and 'felt almost untouchable'.
During the trial, he described how both girls were well
known to social services and other agencies it was 'no secret' they were having
s£x with older, Asian men.
But no reports were made to police, he said, and 'no action
was taken' to stop the girls being abused.
The gang's sickening crimes only came to light when one of
the girls, who was also sexually exploited by another grooming gang, went to
police in 2015.
In a victim's personal statement, Girl A told how her life
had been 'destroyed' by the abuse and her 'childhood was taken away'.
She said: 'I meant nothing to these men - they used me for
their advantage only.
They didn't care how their abuse would have an impact
on my childhood and adult life. As long as they got what they wanted, that was
all that mattered.'
In her statement, Girl B described her experience as
'horrific' and said her life had been 'on hold' for the past 20 years, adding:
'I have never been able to move on from the abuse.
'This has not just impacted my life and what I could have
achieved, but also my children's lives. They have become victims of these men
too.'
Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution
Service's Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, said following today's sentences:
'At the centre of this case are two victims who, as children, were repeatedly
abused, passed around and discarded by men who cruelly preyed on their
vulnerabilities and exploited their difficult circumstances for their own
sexual gratification.
'Both victims have shown an enormous amount of strength and
dignity throughout what has been a lengthy and challenging legal process.
'The impact of child s£xual abuse extends far beyond the
immediate offending. Both women not only gave evidence during the trial but
have assisted the Court further by providing Victim Personal Statements
describing in tragic detail the trauma they have carried for decades, and the
impact this offending has had on all parts of their lives.
'Our Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, in collaboration
with Greater Manchester Police, was able to use extensive evidence to build a
comprehensive picture of the defendant's offending to present to a jury who
found them guilty and delivered the justice these women deserved.
'All children have the right to be safe and protected. I
hope the outcome of this case will encourage anyone who may be in a similar
position to come forward to report their abuse to the police, knowing we will
do all we can to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so and
offer support throughout the process.'
After sentencing, Sharon Hubber, director of children's
services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: 'The council is in a very different
place to where it once was more than a decade ago, and our work to improve our
safeguarding practice and our response to child sexual exploitation has been
recognised in every Ofsted inspection since 2014.
'We will not be complacent, however, and we remain committed
to doing all that we can with our partners to protect and support victims and
survivors.'
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