Three brothers go on trial accused of grooming underage girls in Barrow

Even regular readers might not remember that I have been waiting since September last year to find out what happened to three brothers who were charged at Preston Magistrates Court in August 2020, and who were expected in the Crown Court in Preston in September last year, but which trial never appeared in the the list.  I was interested in their trial for reasons over and above my usual interest. The alleged offences took place in Beeston, near Leeds in West Yorkshire and Barrow in Furness the other side of the Pennines in Cumbria. And when Eleanor Williams was on trial for perverting the course of justice for her claims about being raped and trafficked by a Muslim gang in Barrow Cumbria police were adamant throughout that:- 

“If asked, is there an organisation of Asian men in Barrow conducting abuse or sexual exploitation against individuals our investigation has shown that has not been corroborated.”

So even though some of Eleanor William’s allegations were easily disproved and she did very wrong in making them, the existence of some organised exploitation in town was not so easily dismissed while these charges remained untried. And that it took West Yorkshire Police NOT Cumbria Police to bring charges. (NB Rotherham, scene of the notorious cover up is a difference force again, South Yorkshire) 

Anyway, 9 months of checking lists and other sources was worthwhile. I now know that the Miah Brothers trial at Crown Court Preston started on Friday and continued today. From the Guardian and the North West Mail. 

Three brothers have gone on trial accused of grooming and sexually exploiting underage girls in Barrow-in-Furness.

The Miah brothers – Joman, 37; Amran, 47; and Alman, 46 – are originally from Beeston in Leeds, where Joman and Amran are also accused of indecently assaulting two girls from the age of six and seven.

The alleged offences took place between February 1996 and February 2010 and involved five girls.

One of the girls claimed Joman sexually assaulted her at least weekly at a mosque in Leeds, where he taught the Qur’an and she was his pupil. She was aged seven to nine at the time, and Joman was 17 to 19.

A jury at Preston crown court heard that Joman went on to abuse her and another girl when he moved to Barrow around 2008 to work in Iesha’s, a takeaway owned by his family. In Barrow, Joman was known as “Saj”, pronounced Sarge. Local gossip said that at one point he was a delivery driver for the takeaway arm of the restaurant owned by one of the men Eleanor Williams singled out as an abuser. But local gossip isn’t evidence against either man. So far as was reported in court she never accused any of the Miah brothers and I’m told the dates don’t match.

There, he had a sexual relationship with a local girl when she was aged 13 to 16 and he was in his early-to-mid 20s. “He would buy her cigarettes, he would buy her beer and give her £40 in cash in a month, about which she would tell her mum that it was her wages for working at the takeaway. She wasn’t working. She was having sex with him.”

A fourth woman, who accuses Amran (also known as Jai) of raping her, told police she saw “many young girls at the takeaway, some downstairs, some upstairs and others out the back”, Evans told the court.

She told detectives she challenged Joman about his inappropriate relationship with her friend. “He replied that he was doing nothing wrong and that in his religion a girl could marry an adult male from the age of nine,” Evans said. Note that point well. A religious justification. 

Joman’s older brother, Alman, also had sex with the girl when she was 15, the court heard.

That girl spoke to Cumbria police in late 2009 about what was going on with the brothers, but no charges were brought, the court heard. Amran found out and threatened to hurt her family if she spoke out again, the jury was told. Shortly afterwards she was bundled into a car and told by Amran ‘you have been warned, once you screw one (of us) over, you screw us all’, the jurors heard.

Today (Monday 17th) The jury heard of a witness and complainant in relation to Amran Miah’s intimidation charge. The witness said she saw drivers going out on deliveries on their own but coming back with young girls in their school uniform, said prosecutor Tim Evans. She details how she was asked to be interviewed after police investigated an address where members of the Miah family would allegedly go to party after work with friends from Leeds. However, the interview never took place because Amran visited her home address and threatened that he would ‘get her house set on fire’ if she said anything to the police, said Mr Evans.

The jury at Preston Crown Court heard how another alleged victim of sexual assault committed by Amran, 47, regularly saw two other girls at Iesha’s, their family-run takeaway, in their school uniform drinking alcohol with Asian men.

Amran Miah denies 14 sexual offences, two charges of intimidation and one count of kidnap, Joman Miah, 37, denies 34 sexual offences and Alman Miah, 46, denies two.

The trial continues.