MP writes to Attorney General demanding review of grooming gang sentences in Bradford and Keighley

A Tory MP has written to the Attorney General demanding stronger sentences for convicted child rapists in Bradford and Keighley.

Robbie Moore has urged Lord Richard Hermer to call in the sentences for four different grooming gangs from the area that have been convicted in the last decade.

In particular, the Keighley and Ilkley MP urged him to review the jail term given to Ibrar Hussain on Friday.

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Only Hussain left the dock to start his sentence, as the Ahmed brothers both absconded during their trial and are believed to be abroad.

The girls were plied with drugs and alcohol as they were passed between numerous men, “virtually all of whom were of Asian heritage”, in the town in the 1990s, when they were in their early teens.

Mr Moore described the sentences as “completely outrageous” and said they “need to be at the maximum”.

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Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore. Credit: Robbie MooreKeighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore. Credit: Robbie Moore
Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore. Credit: Robbie Moore | Robbie Moore

Of the two abusers who absconded, he told The Yorkshire Post: “Those passports need to be taken off them and they should be never allowed in this country ever again.”

Mr Moore is also concerned that Bradford Council’s rejection of an inquiry into child sexual abuse could block the district from forming part of the Government’s grooming gang audit.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said one of the locations would be Oldham, but the other four were yet to be decided.

At Bradford’s full council meeting on Tuesday night, Labour councillors blocked a vote on a Conservative motion calling for a full public inquiry into grooming gangs with an “amendment stating “child sexual exploitation is an abhorrent crime”.

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Phillipa Hubbard, of the Bradford District Safeguarding Children Partnership, previously ruled out an inquiry.

“Like many local authorities up and down the country, we know that agencies in our district have made mistakes in the past,” she explained, referencing a review carried out in the area in 2021.

In Bradford, three men were given jail sentences on January 17 for multiple sexual offences against two children in Keighley. All the charges relate to offending which happened in the Keighley area between 1996 and 1999 and the victims were young females aged between 13 and 16 at the time. 

Two men, Fayaz Ahmed, 45, from Bingley, and Imtiaz Ahmed, 61, from Keighley, are currently wanted after being sentenced in their absence. Fayaz Ahmed received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for two counts of rape, while Imtiaz Ahmed was sentenced to nine years for rape. Additionally, Ibrar Hussain, 47, from Keighley, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of two counts of rape.In Bradford, three men were given jail sentences on January 17 for multiple sexual offences against two children in Keighley. All the charges relate to offending which happened in the Keighley area between 1996 and 1999 and the victims were young females aged between 13 and 16 at the time. 

Two men, Fayaz Ahmed, 45, from Bingley, and Imtiaz Ahmed, 61, from Keighley, are currently wanted after being sentenced in their absence. Fayaz Ahmed received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for two counts of rape, while Imtiaz Ahmed was sentenced to nine years for rape. Additionally, Ibrar Hussain, 47, from Keighley, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of two counts of rape.
In Bradford, three men were given jail sentences on January 17 for multiple sexual offences against two children in Keighley. All the charges relate to offending which happened in the Keighley area between 1996 and 1999 and the victims were young females aged between 13 and 16 at the time. Two men, Fayaz Ahmed, 45, from Bingley, and Imtiaz Ahmed, 61, from Keighley, are currently wanted after being sentenced in their absence. Fayaz Ahmed received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for two counts of rape, while Imtiaz Ahmed was sentenced to nine years for rape. Additionally, Ibrar Hussain, 47, from Keighley, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of two counts of rape. | West Midlands Police

“But the view of our partnership remains that a public inquiry would cost a huge amount of money, use precious officer time, and is unlikely to provide us with any new learning that would better protect children from being abused,” she added.

Mr Moore described this as “indefensible” and said the council is “actively blocking further openness and transparency on this horrendous crime which continues to haunt Keighley and the wider Bradford district”.

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The Keighley and Ilkley MP is on the Home Affairs Select Committee which quizzed Professor Alexis Jay, the author of grooming gang report into Rotherham, on Tuesday.

She said the priority must be implementing the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Bradford Council and the Attorney General have been contacted for comment.

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