Jury dismissed in ex-Lord Ahmed’s child sex abuse trial

From the Rotherham Advertiser

THE jury in the child sex abuse trial of former Rotherham peer Nazir Ahmed has been discharged.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson, discharged the jury this morning due to legal reasons and will hear further legal submissions from all parties.

A decision as to the future conduct of the case is to be made in the near future, he said.

Nazir Ahmed was charged with two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14, and raping a boy under 16, all alleged to have occurred in the early 1970s.

On Wednesday Sheffield crown court heard that Ahmed rejected the allegations as “malicious fiction”. He was on trial alongside his brothers Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq, who were charged with indecent assault of a boy under 14.

It was ruled that they were not fit to stand trial, but jurors were told they would still have to determine if they had committed the alleged acts.