Court of Appeal increases jail term for man who drugged and raped 13-year-old after ‘unduly lenient’ ruling
From the Telegraph
The Court of Appeal has ruled that Ibrar Hussain, 47, who was jailed for six and a half years for drugging a 13-year-old girl and raping her twice should serve a longer sentence because the judge had been too soft on him.
Hussain was one of three men including brothers Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed, aged 62 and 45, who were convicted of raping the girl in Keighley in the 1990s. They were jailed for nine years and seven and half years respectively.
The court was told the three supplied the “vulnerable” girl with money, drugs and alcohol in return for sex. She was taken to various places where she was raped over several years. Many of the offences took place in the flats above the brothers’ family’s grocery shop.
However, their sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal by Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, and Lucy Rigby, the solicitor general, to decide if they were unduly lenient.
The appeal court judges have now decided that the sentences were too lenient and have increased Hussain and Fayaz Ahmed’s sentences to 10 years and Imtiaz Ahmed’s term to 11 years.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, criticised the failure to take tougher action when Hussain was initially sentenced by Judge Ahmed Nadim.
He said: “This is a damning indictment of Judge Nadim’s flawed approach to sentencing in this case, which reduced one of the rapists sentences ostensibly because he’s now ‘very, very different’ and ‘involved with his local mosque’.
“How does being involved in your local mosque reduce your sentence for child rape?
“It is deeply troubling that these three offenders were part of a wider group tried for similar abuse. But the statutory window for referring the other five sentences under the unduly lenient sentence scheme has now expired. That means justice delayed has become justice denied. This case should mark a turning point. Serious concerns must now be raised about the consistency and adequacy of sentencing across the rape gangs trials as a whole.”
Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed are believed to have absconded to Pakistan in 2023 and were sentenced in absentia. Following their sentencing, Robbie Moore, the Keighley and Ilkley MP, contacted the Attorney General to complain about the sentences.
This is not the same trial as that of 12 men with Islamic names from the Keighley area who were tried and sentenced in 2016 about which trial the Judge has blocked release of the transcript into the public domain as “contrary to the public interest”. These are another gang.
As local MP Robbie Moore said last month. “Release the transcripts. Investigate Bradford”
