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Nine Asian men have been convicted for taking part in a paedophile sex ring that plied girls with boozed and subjected them to sex ordeals in Greater Manchester.
The men from Rochdale were brought to justice in the the largest ever investigation into child sexual exploitation carried out by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
Led by GMP's Public Protection Division, assisted by the Major Incident Team and Rochdale division, and focused on allegations that five teenage girls in Rochdale were sexually exploited over a period of time by a group of 11 men.
Over the course of several years, the girls were systematically groomed, raped and abused by the defendants. The victims were aged between 13 and 17 at the time of the offences.
In an 11-week trial Liverpool Crown Court heard how the men plied their young vulnerable victims with alcohol, food and money in return for sex.
On some occasions the girls were beaten if they didn't agree to have sex and on others they were so drunk that they didn't know what was being done to them.
The men, most of whom knew each other, would pass some of the girls around between then and even paid some of the victims to bring them new girls.
One of the victims told police: "At first I was scared, then after that it...just didn't bother me anymore...At first I felt dead bad and horrible, but then I didn't feel anything."
The rape claims came to light in 2008 when a 15 year-old girl was arrested at a take-away in Rochdale by officers attending reports of a disturbance.
Once in custody she pleaded with Greater Manchester Police not to take her back to the property claining she would fall-back into the hands of her alleged abusers.
The men convicted are: Abdul Aziz, , Mohammed Amin, Adil Khan, , Mohammed Sajid,, Hamid Safi, 22, Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Qayyum, 43,
Abdul Rauf, 43, of Darley Road, Rochdale, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and trafficking a child within the UK.
Adil Khan, 42, of Oswald Street, Rochdale, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and trafficking a child within the UK.
Mohammed Sajid, 35, of Jepheys Street, Rochdale, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, sexual activity with a child, rape and trafficking a child within the UK.
Mohammed Amin, 44, of Falinge Road, Falinge, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.
Abdul Aziz, 41, of Armstrong Hurst Close, Rochdale, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and trafficking a child within the UK
Hamid Safi, 22, of Kensington Street, Rochdale, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and trafficking a child within the UK.
Kabeer Hassan, 24, of Lacrosse Avenue, Oldham, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and rape, being aider and abettor.
Abdul Qayyum, 43, of Ramsay Street, Rochdale, was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
A 59-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also convicted of convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, trafficking a child within the UK, two counts of rape, rape being aider and abetter and sexual assault.
Two other men who were tried were not convicted.
Officers who carried out the investigation are still hunting Mohammed Shahzad, 40, who has not been seen since 15th June 2011. Shazad is wanted for rape.
Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Mike Sanderson, of the Public Protection Division, said: "What we are dealing with here is the deliberate targeting of young, vulnerable girls by a group of older and in most cases much older men who simply saw them as ‘fair game’.
"They used classic grooming techniques to first take them into their confidence. The young vulnerable underage victims were plied with alcohol, food and, in some cases, small amounts of cash.
"The victims were passed around and abused repeatedly.
"They preyed on the fact that the young girls were extremely vulnerable and impressionable. Bombarded with a constant stream of attention and flattery, some of these victims genuinely thought these men were their boyfriends and they were in 'grown up' relationships.
"Nothing could have been further from the truth. The men knew the girls were underage and they knew what they were doing was criminally and ethically wrong.
"Due to the fact that many girls involved didn't see themselves as victims, they were initially reluctant to talk in great detail to officers.
"However, over the course of many hours of interviews by specially trained officers we managed to identify a clear pattern of offending.
"It is testament to my team of dedicated officers that we are now in the position where a group of serial abusers have been taken out of circulation.
"I must stress however that without the bravery of the victims none of these men would have been brought before the courts."
Det Chief Supt Mary Doyle, Head of GMP's Public Protection Division, said: "This case demonstrates the force's absolute commitment to tackling head-on child sexual exploitation and the abuse of vulnerable people.
"Since this case first came to light we have fundamentally changed the way we deal with all vulnerable members of the community.
"Like many forces, Greater Manchester Police now has working strategies in place to combat child exploitation and will work together with other agencies to prosecute people who target vulnerable children and young people.
"Child sex exploitation is something that parents and carers everywhere should be aware of. It can be committed by all ethnicities and against boys as well as girls. This type of offending is about older men and women taking advantage of vulnerable young people for their own sexual gratification.
"I want to take this opportunity to implore all parents and carers to talk to their children. Take an active interest in what they are doing and warn them not to go off with strangers, no matter how tempting it might seem. Parents and guardians also need to educate their children about what are acceptable relationships and how their children’s relationships should be ‘age appropriate’.
"Like many cases of exploitation, the victims in this investigation did not recognise that they are being exploited and sometimes confuse what is exploitation and what is genuine affection. In many cases they naively believed they were somehow exploiting the men, rather than the other way round.
"We work closely with local authorities, and other organisations such as Barnardo's, to address the specific issue of adults befriending and grooming younger people for sex.
"Our priorities are twofold - the protection of the victims, and the building up of evidence against perpetrators. In order to provide the best possible support for the children involved, we have enlisted the help of Barnardo's, who have many years of experience of dealing with such cases up and down the country."
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