Rochdale sex ring jailed for more than 100 YEARS for appalling attacks on underage girls

From the Express 100 years sounds like a lot, but as a total given to a gang of 9 it is not as robust as it might be. The newspapers know that the public still expects stern sentences for violent and sexual crime and this is a way of making sentences sound more serious. 

A GANG of men who groomed underage white girls in Rochdale have been sentenced to more than 100 years behind bars for a catalogue of horrific offences. 

The crimes were discovered as part of a wider investigation into child sexual exploitation when a sex ring in Rochdale was uncovered in 2012. Operation Doublet saw the 10 men, one who was sentenced last year, arrested after police began to look into sexual abuse in the whole region.  The men, mainly of Pakistani descent, were rounded up after a victim walked into a police station, following media coverage of original attacks and informed police she had also been groomed. 

Two trials which lasted 15 weeks also heard evidence from seven other victims who came forward to testify against the men, most of who were from a Pakistani or Bangladeshi background. 

The string of offences took place mainly between 2005 – 2010 and involved girls as young as 13.

Afraz Ahmed, 33, of Oswald Street, Rochdale, was jailed for a total of 25 years after he was found guilty of numerous sexual offences in relation to five underage victims, including rape, conspiracy to rape and sexual activity with a child.

Choudry Ikhalaq Hussein, 38, formerly of Mayfield Terrace, Rochdale, was jailed for 19 years in his absence for rape, sexual activity with a child and conspiracy to rape.

He is thought to be in Pakistan after he fled during the trial. 

Abid Khan, 39, of Whitney Road, Liverpool, was handed a for six-and-a-half year sentence while Mohammed Zahid, 55, of Croxton Avenue, Rochdale, was jailed for for five years after both were found guilty of sexual activity with a child.

Kutab Miah, 35, of Ramsey Street, Rochdale, was imprisoned for seven years and Rehan Ali, 27, of Cleethorpes Avenue, Blackley, for nine years after both were found guilty of rape and sexual activity with a child. 

Mohammed Dauood, 38, of Leyland Road, Burnley, was jailed for 16 years after for various offences committed against two victims, including sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.

David Law, 46, of Colmanhay Road, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, was convicted of conspiracy to rape and jailed for 11 years. 

A 40-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was imprisoned for 23 years after he was convicted of rape and attempting to abduct a child in relation to three victims.

(TOP L-R) Khan, Ahmed, Hussain (MIDDLE L-R) Law, Miah, Rahman (BOTTOM L-R) Dauood, Zahid, Ali

A tenth man, Mahfuz Rahman, 29, was jailed for five-and-a-half years last September after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child 

When Judge Potter handed down the sentences applause broke out in the public gallery where the main victim, now in her mid-20s, watched from.