Revealed: The eight perverted grooming gangs convicted of preying on girls
In Rochdale alone, eight rings of mainly Pakistani-heritage paedophiles have been convicted of preying on largely white girls in the early 2000s – and a further 20 men are awaiting trial.
Recent cases which underline the scale of the scourge in a string of Britain's towns and cities include:
THE MARKET STALL GANG
Just last Friday, seven men were convicted of sexually exploiting and raping two white schoolgirls in Rochdale.
Ringleader Mohammed Zahid, 64, was known as 'Knickerman' because of his underwear stall on Rochdale's centuries-old market. The depraved father-of-three used his business to target children from troubled backgrounds, grooming the pair from when they were just 13.
Between 2001 and 2006 they were treated as 'sex slaves', a trial in Manchester heard, with Zahid passing them on to paedophile taxi drivers in return for payment where they were subjected to further abuse.
As well as Zahid, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, Kasir Bashir, 50 – who is on the run after absconding – Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, Nisar Hussain, 41, and Roheez Khan, 39, all face lengthy prison sentences.
THE TAKEAWAY BROTHERS
Three brothers who used a 'dingy' flat above a takeaway in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to groom and abuse underage
girls were jailed earlier this year.
Shaha Amran Miah, 49, Shaha Alman Miah, 47, and Shaha Joman Miah, 38, were all convicted of a string of sexual offences against teenage girls between 2008 and 2010. They were jailed for a total of 54 years.
THE CHILDREN'S HOME GANG
Seven men who committed a string of child-sex abuse offences against two teenage girls in Rotherham were jailed for a total of 106 years last September.
At times the victims were collected by their abusers from children's homes. Mohammed Amar, 42, Mohammed Siyab, 44, Yasser Ajaibe, 39, Mohammed Sadiq, 49, Abid Saddiq, 43, Tahir Yassin, 38, and Ramin Bari, 37, were handed sentences of between six and 25 years.
It brought the number of men to face justice in Operation Stovewood – the largest investigation of its kind undertaken in the UK – to 36. It was launched after the Jay Report found that at least 1,400 girls were abused by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
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