Nine guilty of child sex charges in grooming trial
Nine men were convicted Tuesday for their roles in a child sexual exploitation ring which groomed vulnerable girls, plying them with drugs and alcohol.
The men, from Rochdale and Oldham, preyed on girls as young as 13 who were "passed around" for sex, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Some of the victims were raped and physically assaulted, forced to have sex with several men a day, several times a week.
Kabeer Hassan, 25, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 44, Mohammed Amin, 45, Hamid Safi, 22, and a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons have been on trial for 10 weeks along with two other men who were acquitted.
The charges, relating to offences in and around Rochdale in 2008 and 2009, included rape, trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation and conspiracy.
Liaquat Shah, 41, was cleared of sexual assault and conspiracy, while Qamar Shahzad, 30, was found not guilty of conspiracy.
During the trial one victim told how she was raped by two men while she was "so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed". Another, aged 13, said she became pregnant and had the child aborted.
Police said one victim was forced to have sex with 20 men in one night when she was drunk.
At the start of the trial Rachel Smith, for the prosecution, told the jury: "No child should be exploited as these girls say they were.
"There were also occasions on which one or more of the girls were so incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs that they were incapable of having any control over whether or with whom they had sexual intercourse."
Police said the victims, who were from "chaotic", "council estate" backgrounds, were targeted because they were deemed vulnerable. One of them was in care at the time of the abuse and all were known to social services at some point.
The case, involving defendants from Pakistan and Afghanistan, triggered protests by far-right groups but police insist race was not a factor.
Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said: "This is about adults preying on vulnerable young children.
"In large parts of the country we are seeing on-street grooming, child sexual exploitation happening in each of our towns and it isn't about a race issue."
The men will be sentenced Wednesday.