Grooming gang who plied young teenage girl with alcohol and drugs then raped her have 'pathetically short sentences' increased

Daily Mail​

14-05-2025

Groomers who raped a young girl before escaping to Pakistan have had their 'pathetically short sentences' increased.
Ibrar Hussain, now 47, and brothers Imtiaz and Fayaz Ahmed, 62 and 65, were convicted in the 1990s of sexually abusing the teenager.
A court heard the trio plied the victim - aged 13 or 14 - with drugs and alcohol over the course of three years in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Both Ahmed brothers fled during their trial and are believed to still be on the run abroad, while Hussain was the only one to hear his sentence in the dock.
They were the last of eight defendants convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls.
Hussain was jailed for six and a half years for two counts of rapes - with the sentences to be served concurrently.
The brothers were sentenced in their absence, with Fayaz being given seven-and-a-half years while Imtiaz was given nine years in his absence for one count of rape.
But on Tuesday the Court of Appeal increased Hussain's sentence for two counts of rape to 10 years, Imtiaz Ahmed's to 11 years for one count of rape, and Fayaz Ahmed's was increased to 10 years for two counts of rape.
Their sentences had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.
Five of the group did not have their sentences reviewed as their cases did not meet the ULS criteria.
Michael Quinn, from the Crown Prosecution Service, previously said the men's actions were 'wicked, vile and sordid'.
Robbie Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, had written to the attorney general's office to complain about the groomers' initial sentences.
He said: 'They received pathetically short sentences, which have finally been deemed weak enough to be challenged under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) Scheme.
'These men committed horrific crimes: rape, exploitation, and the sustained abuse of two 13 and 16 year old girls in our town.'
Today Robert Jenrick, shadow justice secretary, welcomed the increase in the sentences, writing on X: 'Yesterday the Court of Appeal found that these sentences were more than unduly lenient - they were significantly so.'
He added: '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.'
Adding that the case should 'mark a turning point', Mr Jenrick said 'serious concerns must now be raised about the consistency and adequacy of sentencing across the rape gangs trials as a whole'.
During the hearing, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, with Mrs Justice Eady and Mr Justice Cavanagh, heard the vulnerable victim met the men in the early 1990s, and was supplied with money, drugs and alcohol in return for sex.
She was taken to various places where she was raped over several years, including by Hussain and the Ahmed brothers.
Ibrar Hussain and Fayaz Ahmed were 18 and 17 respectively when they carried out their offences, and Imtiaz Ahmed was in his 30s.
Police launched an investigation into the gang after the girl came forward as an adult to report the abuse. During the probe a second victim came forward to report one of the men had raped her as well.
Bradford Crown Court heard how one of the girls was 'extremely vulnerable' and 'isolated' when she was targeted.
The woman, who is now in her 40s, said had she had been listened to sooner, then 'maybe, just maybe, my life could have been different'.
It was heard how the victim's mother reported her missing to police multiple times but nothing was done.
She said in an impact statement the abuse she went through as a child, means now as an adult, she is still 'trying to fix the trauma that other people have inflicted on me'.
Judge Ahmed Nadim criticised police and social services during the earlier trial, saying they were 'either ill-equipped to properly understand what was happening' and 'uninterested in addressing their needs'.
The victim described how she was 'plied with drugs and alcohol to numb the abuse' and explained how in one instance there were men 'queuing up' in the corridor of a flat to have sex with her.
She said she was 'groomed' and then 'passed on to other men' and became addicted to alcohol and drugs, using them as a 'coping mechanism'.
The court heard: 'Nothing in this world can ever fix the damage I have been through - because of them I lost my identity.'
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby said: 'This case involved the shocking and hideous abuse of a vulnerable teenager by these three sexual predators.
'I referred these sentences to the Court of Appeal because in my view they were unduly lenient.'