Halifax child sex abuse ring

The Halifax child sex abuse ring was a group of 15 British Asian men who committed serious sexual offences against two under-aged girls in the English town of Halifax and city of Bradford, West Yorkshire.^[1] In 2016, they were found guilty of rape and other forms of sexual abuse in several separate trials at Leeds Crown Court.^[2] In total, as many as a hundred men may have been involved in abusing the main victim. Twenty-five suspects were charged by West Yorkshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service and fifteen of these were found guilty.^[1]

Crimes

The main victim was groomed with gifts and apparent displays of affection before being coerced into abusive sexual relationships. The prosecution said that the girl, who was 13 when the abuse first began, came from a troubled family background and was “lonely [and] needy”.^[1] The gang exploited her desire for friendship and love, deliberately giving her drink and drugs to turn her into an addict and make her more easily controlled. In interviews with the police, she described being raped and abused in many different locations, including private homes in Halifax, Bradford and Manchester, and hotels in Bradford, Leeds and London.^[1]

The main victim believed that she was abused by at least a hundred men, often more than once a day and once by nineteen men over a short time. She was infected with gonorrhoea as result of the abuse and suffered permanent psychological harm.^[1] Although she knew many of the men only by their nicknames, the police were able to identify them using CCTV footage from the hotels in which she was abused and by analysing male DNA in stains found on her clothing.^[1]

Judge's comments

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC harshly criticised the guilty men for committing gross abuse on an obviously vulnerable girl. He condemned them for not showing “the slightest remorse” for their behaviour and for the way in which they had inflicted pain, humiliation and degradation on a victim whom they had deliberately incapacitated with drink and drugs. He said that they had inflicted permanent psychological harm on the girl, acting without concern or feelings for anything but their own sexual gratification.^[1]

Verdicts and sentences

Those found guilty and their sentences were as follows:^[2]

• Hedar Ali, 36, of Bradford, 25 years for rape and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
• Haider Ali, 41, of Halifax, 20 years for sexual activity with a child and causing a person to engage in sexual activity.
• Khalid Zaman, 38, of Bradford, 17-and-a-half years for rape and supplying class B drugs.
• Mohammed Ramzan, 35, of Bradford, 15 years for rape.
• Haaris Ahmed, 32, of Halifax, 12-and-a-half years for sexual activity with a child and supplying class B drugs.
• Tahir Mahmood, 43, of Halifax, 11 years for sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.
• Taukeer Butt, 31, of Halifax, 10 years for sexual activity with a child.
• Amaar Ali Ditta, 27, of Halifax, nine years for sexual activity with a child.
• Azeem Subhani, 25, of Halifax, nine years for sexual activity with a child.
• Talib Saddiq, 31, of Halifax, eight years for sexual activity with a child.
• Sikander Malik, 31, of Halifax, seven years for sexual activity with a child.
• Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 43, of Halifax, six-and-a-half years for sexual activity with a child.
• Aftab Hussain, 37, of Halifax, six years for sexual activity with a child.
• Mansoor Akhtar, 25, of Huddersfield, six years for sexual activity with a child and supplying Class B drugs.
• Sikander Ishaq, 31, of Halifax, six years for sexual activity with a child.

See also

• List of sexual abuses perpetrated by groups

References