Several members of the Huddersfield grooming gang, who were convicted in 2018 of more than 150 offences including sexual assaults, child prostitution and abduction, have been told that they can appeal their convictions.
The men were convicted for the abuse of 15 girls between 2004 and 2011.
According to Examiner Live, a judge at the Court of Appeals has approved the first stage of the appeal process for many of the gang members convicted in the original trial. Three judges will now decide whether to grant or refuse them leave to appeal.
During the trial, victims recounted being subjected to abuse at the hands of the Asian-origin men. The victims said their relationship with the men became "one of those things that you couldn't get out of."
The abuse took place "in cars, car parks, houses, a snooker centre, a takeaway, a park and other places," the court heard. At least one of the victims attempted suicide following the abuse.
The ringleader of the gang was Amere Singh Dhaliwal, who is married with children. He is believed to have carried some of the gang's most sickening abuse.
He sexually abused some of the girls countless times and he would also record the other men abusing the girls.
Calling him a prolific sex offender who was at the 'very heart' of the grooming gang, prosecutor Richard Wright QC said: "He targeted vulnerable girls, he showered them with attention and plied them with drink and drugs.
"Having manipulated and moulded them in that way, he used them for his own sexual pleasure and effectively pimped them out to other men at organised parties where sex with young girls was the order of the day."
