Rochdale gang found guilty of sexually exploiting girls

Top row, left to right: Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin, Abdul Rauf and Mohammed Sajid. Bottom row: Abdul Aziz, Abdul Qayyum, Hamid Safi and Kabeer Hassan. Photograph: Getty Images

Nine men have been found guilty of being part of a child sexual exploitation gang that targeted vulnerable girls, plying them with fast food, alcohol, drugs and gifts so they could pass them around a group of men for sex.

During the course of the complex inquiry into the "grooming" case policeidentified and interviewed 47 young girls who were potential victims of the gang, which was active in the Heywood area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009.

A 15-year-old girl complained to police that she was being abused four years ago, but police initially failed to pursue her case because the Crown Prosecution Service advised them she was not a credible enough witness. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is supervising an inquiry into the investigation.

Initially no charges were brought against the teenager's attackers – a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons and Kabeer Hassan. But both were convicted on Tuesday following a two-month trial in Liverpool.

The victims were targeted by Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 44, Mohammed Amin, 45, Hamid Safi, 22, Hassan, 25, and the 59-year-old. Police are still searching for another man, Mohammed Shazad, 39, who absconded while on bail following his first arrest.

One 13-year-old victim became pregnant and had the child aborted. Another gave evidence of being raped by two men while she was "so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed" and later cried herself to sleep. The victims, who were said to be from chaotic backgrounds, were raped and physically assaulted and forced to have sex with several men in a day, several times a week.

The men – who are all of British Pakistani heritage, apart from Safi who is from Afghanistan – groomed the teenage girls, who would often be found hanging around kebab shops late at night, befriending the staff. The court heard that they acted together to sexually exploit the girls.

Barnardo's chief executive, Ann Marie Carrie, said the low conviction rate on sexual exploitation cases was extremely worrying. The charity is aware of 137 investigations of which only 24 have resulted in convictions. She said it was imperative that child exploitation was recognised as a form of abuse that required the full attention of those who worked with children.

Cheryl Eastwood, director for children, schools and families at Rochdale council, admitted: "There's a great deal more to do to tackle child sexual exploitation and the abuse of vulnerable people." She said the girls in the case had been very brave and there was now more preventative work being done to raise awareness of the issue among children, parents and professional staff.

The jurors retired to consider their verdicts at Liverpool crown court last week and returned partial verdicts last Thursday, which the judge ordered could not be made public. The trial was almost derailed when the British National party leader, Nick Griffin, tweeted that seven verdicts had been reached, which was an alleged contempt of court. It is not clear how he learned of the jury's decision as reporting restrictions were in place at the time.

The defence urged the judge to discharge the jury as the comment was "100% accurate". However, it emerged that the message could not have originated from the jury room as they were deliberating at the time and had no access to electronic devices.

The trial was also delayed for a fortnight at the outset in February when two Asian defence barristers were attacked outside the courtroom by the far right. Security was stepped up after hundreds of English Defence League and BNP protesters picketed the court. Both barristers quit the case as they feared their photographs had been placed on racist websites. Three days after the trial began, a mob gathered in the Heywood area of Rochdale and threw bricks at takeaways and police. A police officer suffered slight injuries.

Simon Nichol, defence barrister for the 59-year-old man, said: "From the outset of this trial there have been attempts by far-right organisations to influence the outcome." His client had to be removed from the court as the first verdicts were announced.

The defendant shouted at the judge: "I don't want this biased jury. You are a biased judge. You are a racist bastard. You bastard." He was restrained and removed from the dock. Adil Khan also stood up and said: "I don't want to attend for a BNP jury," and left the dock.

Greater Manchester's assistant chief constable, Steve Heywood, said police had not given the victim the help that she needed and he apologised. "We are now in a different position [than they were in 2008] and we understand the problem better than we did," he said. He maintained that the problem of on-street grooming of children was not a race issue and was about adults preying on vulnerable young children. "It just happens that in the particular area and time the demographics were that these were Asian men. However, 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 Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on child protection and child abuse, Peter Davies, said he congratulated everyone involved in bringing the perpetrators to justice "and by doing so protecting its victims and preventing more harm". He said child sexual exploitation spanned all cultures and ethnicities and when cultural issues arose, it was important to work across all boundaries to tackle it.

"A key concern is the vulnerability of young people who are targeted," he said. "Several police forces have clearly been proactive in preventing child sexual exploitation and grooming and recent court successes are a result of lengthy investigations."

Jon Brown, head of strategy for sexual abuse at the NSPCC, said the guilty verdicts showed these men to be "dangerous and manipulative individuals who purposely targeted vulnerable teenagers for their own sexual gratification." He said: "They conspired together to target girls as young as 13 and plied them with drugs and alcohol before sexually abusing them." He said the charity knew this type of grooming and child exploitation seriously damaged young people's lives. "It is a corrosive problem that needs serious research and action to help those affected," Brown added. He urged the judge to hand down sentences to reflect the damaging nature of the appalling offences and the ruthless way the men treated their victims. The nine men will be sentenced on Wednesday.

The Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk criticised the police for their inaction four years ago and said if the police had acted seriously on the concerns "many of the victims of this appalling case would not have had to go through such horrific trauma."

The 59-year-old man was found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16, two rapes, aiding and abetting a rape, one sexual assault and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. Aziz was found guilty of conspiracy and trafficking and Hassan was convicted of conspiracy and rape. Khan and Rauf were guilty of conspiracy and trafficking. Sajid was guilty of conspiracy, trafficking, rape and sexual activity with a child.

Qayyum was convicted of conspiracy and Amin of conspiracy and sexual assault. Safi was found guilty of conspiracy and trafficking.