"This abuse was vile and wicked."
Five men from West Yorkshire were jailed for a total of 45 years for the “vile and wicked” sexual abuse of young girls.
Their sentences mean that a total of 27 men have been convicted following West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Tendersea investigation into child sexual exploitation.
After what was the fifth trial linked to the operation, prison sentences have now totalled more than 300 years.
On November 1, 2019, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told the five men:
“The way these girls were treated defies understanding.
“This abuse was vile and wicked. None of you has expressed any remorse for what you did.”
One 32-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons was jailed for 14 years. Judge Marson told him:
“You took the virginity of a particularly vulnerable 12-year-old and left her bleeding on the floor in the park.”
He went on to say that the defendant abused another teenage girl on a regular basis in a Huddersfield park, using sleeping pills to subdue her before subjecting her to a “campaign of rape”.
In relation to Operation Tendersea, Judge Marson explained that it involved “a large number of men, principally Asian men” who were charged in relation to “the grooming and sexual abuse of a large number of children”.
He stated that the vulnerable girls were given drugs and alcohol and passed between men in Huddersfield.
Judge Marson said that the victims believed that they were being shown affection, however, an illusion had been “deliberately created to enable predatory men to perpetrate gross sexual abuse for their own perverted gratification”.
The judge described how the men targeted a 12-year-old by using her phone to locate her despite attempts to move her between foster carers.
He explained: “One night the house phone rang and a man asked for the girl and said ‘tell her I want to f*** her’.
“After three days the girl was moved to another foster carer in another city and again she was quickly located.”
“There were repeated calls from Asian men saying ‘can you tell her we want to f*** her’.
“The girl was absolutely terrified and said that if the carer gave the SIM card to the police ‘they will find me and kill me’.”
Samuel Fikru, aged 32, of Huddersfield, was jailed for eight years on November 1, 2019, after he was found guilty of two counts of rape.
Umar Zaman, aged 32, of Huddersfield, was convicted of the same charges and was also jailed for eight years but it was in his absence as he has fled and is believed to be in Pakistan.
A 32-year-old was jailed for 14 years after he was convicted of five counts of rape. Another 32-year-old received an eight-year sentence after being found guilty of one count of rape. A 38-year-old man was found guilty of attempted rape and was jailed for seven years.
For legal reasons, their names cannot be reported.
The Telegraph and Argus reported that Banaris Hussain, aged 36, of Huddersfield, was found guilty of one count of rape and will be sentenced on November 4, 2019.
Loading ...