Five members of a Rotherham grooming gang have been jailed for child sex offences.

Five men have been jailed in connection with a grooming gang that operated in Rochdale, England. The men, four of whom are reported to be of Pakistani descent, were found guilty of a range of offences, including rape, sexual assault, and trafficking.

The girls, who would often be picked up outside school in their uniforms, Minshull Street Crown Court heard, were reportedly plied with alcohol, cannabis and ecstasy pills before being sexually assaulted.

Mohammed Ghani, 39, Insar Hussain, 38, Jahn Shahid Ghani, 50, Martin Rhodes, 39, and Ali Razza Hussain Kazmi, 36, abused young girls between 2002 and 2006.

The victims in this case were aged between 12 and 15. They were targeted by the men, who would groom them with gifts and attention before sexually assaulting them. In some cases, the girls were also trafficked to other towns and cities, where they were forced to have sex with other men.

This case highlights yet again the issue of grooming gangs in the UK, which is thought to be a much larger problem than previously thought. In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile cases involving grooming gangs, which have mostly been of Pakistani origin.

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“Child sex abuse perpetrated by British Pakistani grooming gangs is still taking place and being ignored by the police almost a decade after it was exposed…”

The Daily Telegraph, 12th February, 2023.

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The earliest reports of the activities of grooming gangs in Rotherham date to the early 1990s, when staff of local children’s homes began to investigate reports that taxis driven by Pakistani men were arriving at care homes to take the children away. The police apparently declined to act.

Police forces have been accused of turning a blind eye to offences for fear of upsetting Muslim communities, or of being accused of being racist.

Read also: UK to establish task-force to tackle child abuse by “British-Pakistani grooming gangs”

Image: Greater Manchester Police.

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