Asian pair guilty of drugging and raping underage girls in Halifax and Keighley

Shazad Rehman, 30, was jailed for 18-and-half years and Bilal Hussain, 23, was jailed for 17-and-a-half years at Bradford Crown Court.

Judge Jonathan Rose said the men “engaged in a course of conduct which has become increasingly and depressingly familiar in this country”.

The pair denied abusing the girls, who were picked up as they cruised the streets of Keighley and Halifax.

A jury of eight men and two women found them guilty of a series of sex and drugs offences after two days of deliberation.

The court heard how Rehman and Hussain plied the girls with alcohol and cannabis and took them to hotels for sex.

Rehman referred to the girls as “fresh meat”, the court heard.

Judge Rose told Rehman and Hussain: “It is conduct which is pernicious, wicked and determined.

“It involved the deliberate targeting of young girls - girls who were already damaged, girls who were already very vulnerable, girls who were immature and seeking, perhaps, adventure, companionship, affection and even love.

“You two appeared in your fancy cars, with money to spend, compliments to pay and with alcohol and drugs to entice these girls into those cars and to take them somewhere private and hidden, there to sexually violate, abuse and degrade those girls until, bored, you sought what you, Shazad Rehman, described as ‘fresh meat, untouched and with no reputation’.

“I have no shadow of doubt that you have caused incalculable psychological harm to your victims.”

He went on: “Neither of you lived in Keighley but you identified that town as a place where you would easily find children who, unhappy at home and at school, would be easily persuaded to come with you for what they believed would be a fun and good time but was in fact nothing more than sordid sexual abuse.”

The trial heard that one of the girls, who was 14 when the attacks happened in 2010 and 2011, was repeatedly raped.

Prosecutors told the jury that the men acted together and deliberately went out to target vulnerable victims, who had problems and were looking for attention.

The men, who mainly targeted the Keighley area, used the Alder House Hotel in Batley and the Campanile Hotel in Bradford.

Rehman, of no fixed address, was found guilty of raping two girls, sexual activity with one of the same girls and sexually assaulting two different girls.

Hussain, of Neville Road Avenue, Leeds, was found guilty of raping two girls and also of assaulting one of his victims.

Both men were also convicted of a series of drugs offences and a charge of conspiring to intimidate a witness.

Neither opted to give evidence during the trial, which lasted a number of weeks.

The judge described how Rehman and Hussain systematically abused the girls, who were all white.

The pair approached a number of other girls including two aged just 12 and 13.

Judge Rose said the men shouted at one of the girls “when you’re older love” before they were chased off by one of their mothers.

The judge said: “Your methods were simple and familiar.

“Enticed into your cars the girls would be supplied with alcohol and cannabis until rendered insensible”

The judge said they were then taken to a “squalid hotel” .

He went on: “If they were sufficiently drunk or affected by cannabis you would meet with no resistance and you could do as you pleased as they lay unconscious.”

And he said the pair were prepared to “use such force as necessary to satisfy your seemingly endless lust”.

Judge Rose said the girl who suffered the worst abuse convinced herself Rehman loved her and she loved him.

“I’m left asking the question ‘when will that child ever learn to trust a man again?’,” he said.

“And when you had got what you wanted, you gave them a few pounds, for a McDonalds, for a KFC, for some Skittles or crisps.

“Generously, you also paid for a taxi or bus to take them back to Keighley so that you could avoid being seen in that town.”

The judge said the pair “had at your disposal the knowledge of the paedophile” and made sure the girls believed the defendants were acting out of love, or they would not be believed, or would be treated as “slags”.

Michael Quinn, Senior District Crown Prosecutor, CPS Yorkshire and Humberside said: “Shazad Rehman and Bilal Hussain have today been convicted of an appalling catalogue of abuse against young girls.

“Rehman and Hussain are sexual predators who targeted their victims because of their youth and vulnerability.

“They systematically and ruthlessly groomed their child victims, plying them with strong alcohol and drugs, and exploited the trust placed in them as adults in the cruellest possible way.”

Chief Superintendent Angela Williams, who is police commander for north Bradford and the Keighley area, said: “Rehman and Hussain preyed upon these young girls, building their confidence before undertaking what were deplorable acts of abuse.

“Our teenage girls in Keighley are far safer now this pair are behind bars and removed from the streets.

“Months of detailed investigation went into monitoring their activities, which allowed us to build a catalogue of evidence against each of them.

“These sentences should therefore be a warning to anyone who thinks they can come to our town with the intention of committing such offences.

“Girls under 16 cannot consent to sexual acts in any circumstance and we will not tolerate or accept such behaviour.

“We will always face issues of child sexual exploitation head on and this outcome is testament to the strong partnership links which have been forged within the Bradford District.

“The expert support provided to the girls, gave them the courage to stand up against the perpetrators and ensured they were brought before the courts for their crimes.”

Last May, a charity boss hit the headlines for saying there was “a real problem” over the grooming of teenage white girls by Asian gangs in northern towns and cities.

Martin Narey, former chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, spoke as nine men from Lancashire who targeted vulnerable girls were jailed for between four and 19 years. The nine, who groomed white girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs were driven by “lust and greed”, a judge said.