Keighley grooming case: ‘Arrogant’ Asian gang of 12 jailed for 130 years
The Yorkshire Post meant to write Muslim, not Asian of course. All twelve have Islamic names. The 12 men concerned were convicted before Christmas and sentenced today.
AN ARROGANT gang of 12 men in a West Yorkshire town have been jailed for a total of 130 years for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of a vulnerable schoolgirl they saw as “utterly worthless”. Eleven were jailed for rape and a twelfth man was jailed for sexual activity with a child under 16.
The white British victim was aged 13 and 14 when she was repeatedly raped and sexually abused and passed around by the Asian men. In one sustained attack she was raped by five of them in succession. Some of the abuse took place in an underground car park where there was graffiti with the victim’s name and the word “corner”.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the men were led by ringleader Ahmed Al-Choudhury who facilitated most of the offences but then fled abroad.
Judge Roger Thomas QC condemned the “insolent and disrespectful behaviour” the accused showed in court which he said reflected their treatment of their victim.
He told them: “The attitudes of the majority of you have so clearly demonstrated to these proceedings has been contemptuous, disrespectful and arrogant on a scale that I have hardly seen before in many years of practice in criminal law. Exactly the same attitude to the 13/14 year old girl who you all sexually abused and exploited for your own selfish gratification.”
“None of these defendants had any concern for the victim. They were totally uninterested in her welfare and what damage they were causing her. . . They saw her as a pathetic figure who had no worth and who served no purpose than to be an object that they could sexually misuse and cast aside. . . “
But how else does one treat a possession of the right hand?
The court heard how the majority of defendants had a host of previous convictions ranging from drugs, dangerous driving, assault, public disorder, stealing and handling stolen goods.
Khalid Raja Mahmood has a “significant record” and is currently serving six and a half years for the rape of a 43-year-old woman and a consecutive one and a half years for attempting false imprisonment of a child. Other convictions include seven sexual offences, three offences of indecent assault and two for curb crawling.
SENTENCES IN FULL
• Khalid Raja Mahmood, 34, received a 17-year extended sentence for two charges of rape and three of sexual activity with a child. The sentences includes a jail term of 13.5 years and an extended licence period of three-and-a-half years;
• Tauqeer Hussain, 23, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, was jailed for a total of 18 years for two counts of rape against the first victim and one against another teenage girl.
• Yasser Kabir, 25, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, was jailed for a total of 20 years for three counts of rape against the first victim and four charges of rape, two charges of sexual assault, two charges of assault by penetration and four charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity against two young girls.
• Sufyan Ziarab, 23, of Kendall Mellor Court, Keighley, was jailed for 15 years for two counts of rape;
• Bilal Ziarab, 21, of Sedgwick Close, Bradford, was jailed for 12 years for two counts of rape;
• Israr Ali, 19, of Devonshire Street West, Keighley, was sentenced to three-and-half-years in a young offenders’ institution for one count of rape;
• Nasir Khan, 24, of Buxton Street, Keighley, was jailed for 13 years for one count of rape;
• Saqib Younis, 29, of Bradford Street, Keighley, was jailed for 13 years for one count of rape;
• Hussain Sardar, 19, of Bradford Street, Keighley, was sentenced to six years in a young offenders’ institution for one count of rape;
• Zain Ali, 20, of Buxton Street, Keighley, was sentenced to eight years in a young offenders’ institution for one count of rape;
• Faisal Khan, 27, of Buxton Street, Keighley, was jailed for 13 years for one count of rape;
• Mohammed Akram, 63, of Holker Street, Keighley, was jailed for five years for one count of sexual activity with a child.