The lifting of reporting restrictions has made public for the first time that 15 members of a grooming gang have been jailed for the rape and sexual abuse of a young girl in Bradford, England, between 2007 and 2011.
The West Yorkshire Police disclosed on Wednesday that the 15 men had been sentenced to a combined 188 years in prison over their sexual exploitation of one Bradford girl from when she was 14 to 18 years old.
The police force said that the victim had been approached by officers in 2015 after being identified as a possible former victim of a grooming gang, given that she had been the subject of multiple missing persons reports.
Commenting on the convictions, the survivor said: “The men involved have taken more away from me than what I can ever describe in words and looking back now I feel sad for my 12-year-old self knowing what was to come. All in all, this has consumed my life for just short of 20 years, it is not something which I can forget.
“My childhood has been taken away from me, the impact from what I suffered during my teens will always live with me and I will carry that every day and learn to navigate my way through life with that.”
The police force noted that the convictions took place over a series of trials and that the full list of abusers could not be made public until now due to the court reporting restrictions.
Those convicted included:
Hannan Miah, 40, of Bradford has been sentenced to 12 years for four rapes
Asif Budhia, 43, of Bradford has been sentenced to 13 years for four rapes
Abdul Basith, 44, of Bradford has been sentenced to 13 and a half years for four rapes and one conspiracy to rape
Burhan Uddin Ali, 39, of Bradford has been sentenced to 13 and a half years for four rapes
Muhammad Yasir, 40, of Bradford has been sentenced to 10 years for rape
Mohammed Nadeem Ali, 42, of Bradford has been sentenced to 13 years for four counts of rape
Jameel Ahmed, 35, of Bradford has been sentenced to eight years for four counts of rape
Amjad Hussain ,39, of Keighley has been sentenced to 10 years and five months for five counts of rape
Ashfaq Ahmed, 38, of Halifax has been sentenced to 12 years for two rapes
Aftab Ahmed, 37, of Bradford has been sentenced to 11 for three rapes
Anwar Aziz, 36, of Bradford has been sentenced to 15 years for 14 rapes
Yousaf Bhatti, 40, of Bradford has been sentenced to 17 years for eight rapes
Faisal Rashid, 37, of Bradford has been sentenced to 15 years for ten rapes
Omar Taj, 39, of Batley has been sentenced to 15 years for 12 rapes
Shahinul Haq, 39, of Bradford has been sentenced to 10 years for rape
Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Greenbank of Bradford District Police said:
We welcome the convictions and the sentences today for what has been a long time coming for the survivor in this case. I would like to commend her courage and bravery that she has shown throughout the investigation and the court process. These men horrifically abused a child for their own sexual gratification, what they did was abhorrent and they deserve to be in jail for a long time.
This has been a long and complex investigation resulting in multiple trials, I hope today’s outcome will give the victim some closure and a sense of justice. I hope these convictions give confidence to anyone who has suffered abuse, no matter how long ago, to come forward and report it. We will listen to you, and we will ensure that your report is fully investigated.
The latest convictions come amid increased scrutiny over the practices of British police forces, with the latest example cited by critics being the death of 18-year-old Harry Nowak, who died after being handcuffed by police over false accusations of racism by the very man who stabbed him to death.
The scandal has prompted calls, from Nigel Farage and others, to end positive discrimination and DEI policies to ensure that everyone is treated equally under the law. The perception of a two-tier police system has been inextricably linked to the grooming gang epidemic, during which white working-class girls were routinely ignored or treated as vexatious by police, while the now-proven crimes of predominantly Pakistani Muslim rapists were overlooked by police forces and other local officials for fear of appearing racist or of stoking ethnic divisions.
Last month, Dame Louise Casey, whose review last year forced the government to finally admit the racial component to the grooming crimes, said that she was concerned that many are still in “denial” and that many victims are still not being believed, while people are “still squeamish over looking at both religion and ethnicity of perpetrators.”