Twenty men face 219 years behind bars for raping and abusing young girls after a series of trials, it can now be revealed.
The 20 men were convicted of sexually exploiting four girls between the ages of 12 and 16 in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, after several separate legal proceedings finally concluded this week.
West Yorkshire Police said that its detectives in Calderdale first opened an investigation in 2016, leading to “multiple extremely complex and sensitive investigations into a number of separate allegations” of child abuse between 2001 and 2010.
The outcomes of these investigations could not be reported until now due to court restrictions.
The first investigation regarded the sexual exploitation of two girls aged between 13 and 16, which occurred between 2006 and 2009 in Calderdale.
Nine men from Halifax were jailed following two trials at Bradford Crown Court.
After the first trial, which commenced in October 2021, Shahzad Nowaz, 45, and Nadeem Nassir, 44, were both sentenced to 11 years after being found guilty of rape and making threats to kill.
Sajid Adalat, 48, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of seven years. Shazad Nazir, 49, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of 11 years.
Sohail Zaffer, 41, pleaded guilty to rape and supply of a class C drug and was sentenced to a total of 42 months.
All men were from Halifax. In the second trial, Nadeem Adalat, 39, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 14 years. After he attempted to appeal the sentence, it was raised to 16 years.
Asad Mahmood, 38, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of 13 years.
Mohammed Rizwan Iqbal, 39 was also found guilty of rape and sentenced to nine years.
Vaseem Adalat, 38, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 12 years. He also attempted an appeal, but his sentence was increased to 14 years and 6 months.
As with the first trial at Bradford, all men lived in Halifax. West Yorkshire Police launched another investigation in the same year after the force received reports of the repeated sexual abuse of a young girl between 2002 and 2006.
Police said the abuse started when she was aged just 13. There were three trials related to the investigation.
The first trial launched in August 2022, with Amir Shaban, 48, facing a decade behind bars after being found guilty of rape. As with the former investigations, Shaban also lived in Halifax.
But it was at a second trial, starting 14 months later in October 2022, that six men from the same West Yorkshire town were all jailed for rape.
Mohammed Ziarab, 55, Malik Quadeer, 67, Imran Raja Yasin, 45, Mohammed Akhtar, 54, Saquab Hussain, 46 and Kamran Amin, 48 all faced jail time.
Ziarab, Yasin and Amin were all jailed for 10 years. Akhar received 11 years in jail and has since died while serving his sentence.
But Quadeer – who was found guilty of five counts of rape – was sentenced to 22 years.
The third trial relating to the force’s investigation commenced at Bradford Crown Court in January this year.
Haroon Sadiq, 40, of Halifax, was sentenced to 10 years after being found guilty of two counts of rape.
Shafiq Ali Rafiq, 44, of Dewsbury, was sent down for 12 years after being found guilty of two counts.
And on the same charges, Sarfraz Rabnawaz, 39, of Bradford, was sent to the cells for nine years.
The force’s third linked investigation was launched two years later, with Craig Mitchell, 55 from Halifax, being found guilty of rape in December 2018.
West Yorkshire Police investigated Mitchell after a 12-year-old girl was sexually abused between 2001 and 2002.
Mitchell was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
Reacting to the disclosure of the prison terms, Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Claire Smith of Calderdale District Police, praised the “sheer courage of the victims and survivors in each of these investigations” for coming forward but also for “enduring the criminal justice system and the weight of criminal trials and reporting restrictions in place.”
DCI Smith added: “I welcome the sentences handed to these offenders for the abhorrent abuse these young girls were subjected to, which was heard by the jurors in each trial over the last few years.
“Tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse is a top priority for West Yorkshire Police and our partners. This is an abhorrent crime which has a lifelong impact on victims and survivors. I hope highlighting the prosecution of these offenders will serve as a reminder that we will continue to do all we can to put perpetrators behind bars and protect victims and survivors.”
The officer continued: “It’s never too late to report child sexual abuse. I encourage anyone who was abused as a child to speak to someone and seek support. Reports of non-recent abuse are handled by officers who are specially trained in supporting victims and survivors and dealing with such sensitive cases.”
The details of the trials and sentencing come as further political discussion on the nationwide grooming gangs scandal.
Last year, a task force headed up by the National Crime Agency was launched by then Home Secretary Suella Braverman to tackle the rape gangs.
The force was launched after a GB News documentary detailed over 50 towns and cities across Britain where this form of child abuse had been recorded.
It has made over 500 arrests in its first year, with hundreds of officers trained across the country. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick demanded that grooming gang rapists should be jailed for life.
He also told GB News that foreign nationals involved in this sort of abuse should be deported.
