In another conviction of grooming gangs in the UK, twenty men were found guilty of rape and assault of young girls and have been handed over a total of more than 219 years in prison, an official statement of West Yorkshire police announced on 6th November. Among the convicted, Shahzad Nowaz (45) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and making threats to kill and sentenced to a total of 11 years. Nadeem Nassir (44) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and making threats to kill and sentenced to a total of 11 years. Sajid Adalat (48) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of seven years. Sohail Zaffer (41) of Halifax, pled guilty to rape and supply of a class C drug. He was sentenced to a total of 42 months. Shazad Nazir (49) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of 11 years.
Nadeem Adalat (39) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 14 years. He appealed the sentence and it was increased to a total of 16 years. Asad Mahmood (38) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of 13 years. Mohammed Rizwan Iqbal (39) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to a total of nine years. Vaseem Adalat (38) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 12 years, which was increased to a total of 14 years and 6 months after an appeal.
Amir Shaban (48) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 10 years. Malik Quadeer (67) of Halifax was found guilty of five counts of rape and sentenced to 22 years. Mohammed Ziarab (55) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 10 years. Imran Raja Yasin (45) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 10 years. Kamran Amin (48) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 10 years. Mohammed Akhtar (54) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 11 years. He passed away while serving his sentence.
Saquab Hussain (46) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to seven years and 6 months. Haroon Sadiq (40) of Halifax was found guilty of two counts of rape and sentenced to 10 years. Shafiq Ali Rafiq (44) of Dewsbury was found guilty of two counts of rape and sentenced to 12 years. Sarfraz Rabnawaz (39) of Bradford was found guilty of two counts of rape and sentenced to 9 years. Craig Mitchell (55) of Halifax was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 12 years.
The men were found to have sexually abused and exploited four girls in Calderdale, ages 12 to 16, after a succession of individual investigations and prosecutions. It added that the detectives in Calderdale have carried out several highly sensitive and complicated investigations into various independent claims of child sexual abuse in the Calderdale area between 2001 and 2010 since the initial accusation in 2016.
“Due to court restrictions being put in place at an early stage to safeguard legal proceedings, we have so far been unable to share the outcomes of these investigations. The restrictions have now been lifted, allowing us to share details of three investigations where proceedings are no longer active,” the statement further read.
Two girls between the ages of 13 and 16 were sexually abused and exploited in Calderdale between 2006 and 2009 after which the first investigation was started in 2016. During two trials at Bradford Crown Court, nine men from Halifax were imprisoned. October 2021 marked the start of the first trial in which five individuals were pronounced culpable and four more met the same fate during the second one which began in January 2022. After hearing about the recurrent abuse of a vulnerable girl from 2002 to 2006, beginning when she was 13 years old, the second investigation was also started in 2016.
At Bradford Crown Court, one man was convicted in the first trial in August 2022 and six men were found guilty in the second trial, which commenced in October 2022. Three persons were found guilty in a third trial that began in January 2024. In 2018, a 12-year-old girl who had been sexually molested between 2001 and 2002 was the subject of a third investigation, in which a man was deemed guilty.
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the sheer courage of the victims and survivors in each of these investigations – not only for having the bravery to come forward initially but also for enduring the criminal justice system and the weight of criminal trials and reporting restrictions in place. Due to legal restrictions, it has not been possible to publicise these outcomes until now. 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,” stated Detective Chief Inspector Claire Smith.
“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. 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 officer added.
The most recent prosecutions follow 15 men who were imprisoned for child sex offences in 2016, which police described at the time as their biggest probe into Calderdale’s grooming gangs. Investigators and victims cautioned the following year that grooming gangs nationwide were replicating the coordinated abuse that had been made public in Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Newcastle. As of August 2017, Operation Sanctuary, which looked into grooming gangs in Tyne and Weir and Northumberland had identified over 700 possible victims.
Last year, then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak established a task force led by the National Crime Agency to address the grave threat posed by these gangs. “The safety of women and girls is paramount. For too long, political correctness has stopped us from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women. We will stop at nothing to stamp out these dangerous gangs,” he had declared.
The force was formed in response to a GB News program that documented this type of child abuse in more than 50 British towns and cities. With hundreds of cops trained across the country, it has made more than 500 arrests in its first year. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, called for life in prison for individuals involved in such activities and advocated for the deportation of foreigners engaged in this kind of abuse.
UK grooming gang: 20 men found guilty of raping four minor girls, sentenced to 219 years in jail