‘Predators’ who preyed on girls jailed for rape

Shazad Rehman, 30, was jailed for 18-and-a-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 the men cruised the streets of Keighley and Halifax looking for targets.

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

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

Prosecutors told the jury 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 others.

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.

Michael Quinn, senior district Crown prosecutor for Yorkshire, described the men’s actions as “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.

“These offences were then further compounded by the defendants’ attempts to intimidate one of the prosecution witnesses. This clearly demonstrates the utter contempt these men have for the rule of law.”

Mr Quinn praised the victims for coming forward.

“I would like to pay tribute to their bravery today. The result today sends out the clearest possible message that this type of case will be prosecuted with vigour and robustness.”