Rhyl man accused of abusing girls then ‘made contact with a fourth’

Local Newspaper the Rhyl Journal is keeping up the reporting on this case. All credit to them and to the Judge for not imposing a blanket reporting restriction.

A MAN from Rhyl accused of sexually abusing three girls had phone contact with a fourth girl shortly before his final arrest despite an order banning him from doing so, a court heard.

Mustafa Iqbal is one of five on trial at Caernarfon Crown Court for an alleged child trafficking and sexual exploitation conspiracy between 2022 and 2024, which involved three female child complainants.

Iqbal, 43, of Trellewelyn Road, Rhyl, denies charges including four counts of rape, three counts of conspiracy to require a person to perform compulsory labour, three counts of sexual assault, two counts of conspiracy to traffic, and breaching a slavery/trafficking risk order.

At the trial today (April 30), North Wales Police intelligence analyst Anne Marie Fisher told the court that contact started between Iqbal and another girl, Child E, on July 18, 2025.

Phone calls or attempted calls were then made between their numbers on July 19 and 30, and every day between August 2 and 6.

Iqbal, who was first arrested in April 2022, was arrested for the final time on August 7, and charged on August 8.

He was already under investigation for the sexual exploitation of Child A, B and C when this order was made at Llandudno Magistrates Court in December 2024.

Mr Edwards added in his opening: “Mr Iqbal is a predator who targets young females. He views them as sexual commodities, to be used as he wants.”

The trial, expected to last until June, resumes on Wednesday, May 6.