Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Grooming gang convicted of 'truly appalling' sexual abuse

A GROOMING gang of seven “predatory men” has been convicted for sexually exploiting two girls in “truly appalling ways”.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Usman Ali, Banaras Hussain, Abdul Majid, Gul Riaz and three other accused, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, were found guilty of a total of 10 counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault.


The prosecution said the men “systematically groomed and exploited” two teenagers in the Huddersfield area, who were treated as “merely objects, to be used and abused at will”.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: “The way these girls were treated defies understanding. The abuse was vile and wicked.

“It is clear that both have been and remain profoundly affected by the abuse which ended some years ago.”

The girls had been groomed from the age of 13 and 14, between 1995 to 2007.

The judge said the offences were “insidious and persistent”, and termed the abuse “disgusting and degrading”.

One of the victims’ families had stated that the girl used to go would go missing and return “heavily under the influence of alcohol or drugs”, sometimes injured and half naked.

Once, the family recalled, she was “thrown out of a car drunk, with her trousers around her ankles”.

The men used “violence and threats” to exploit and control the girls, the Leeds Crown Court was told. One of the victims reportedly said she ended up having “sex with up to 300 men”.

The court was also informed about a harsh response one of the victims’ families received from social services: “She must love it if she keeps going back.”

The prosecution noted that one victim had tried to report the abuse to police in 1997, but was “disbelieved and felt let down by them”.

West Yorkshire Police DCI Richard McNamara said: “The men involved in these vile offences have robbed their victims of their childhood and abused them in truly appalling ways.”

“During the trial,” he noted, “the court heard that one victim came to the attention of her abusers while she was on a paper round in school uniform, which speaks volumes about the sheer depravity of this case.”

This case took the number of men convicted for child sexual exploitation based on West Yorkshire Police’s ‘Operation Tendersea’ town to 34.

Michael Quinn, head of the Complex Casework Unit at CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “The girls were drawn into a dark and sinister world where they were passed around to men who used them sexually without any regard for whether they were consenting.

“Sometimes the girls were plied with alcohol or drugs. They were unable to make truly free or informed choices about anything they did with these men. Their abusers viewed the girls as merely objects, to be used and abused at will.”

Usman Ali, 34, of Huddersfield, was convicted of two counts of rape and jailed for eight years.

Banaras Hussain, 39, of Shipley, was convicted of one count of rape and jailed for nine and a half years.

Abdul Majid, 35, of Huddersfield, was convicted of two counts of rape and jailed for 11 years.

Gul Riaz, 43, of Huddersfield, was convicted of two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault, and jailed for 15 years.

Two other men, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were each convicted of a count of rape with one jailed for eight years and another jailed for four.

The seventh man is yet to be sentenced.

More For You

MIT-Anantha_Chandrakasan

Chandrakasan was selected from a group of internal candidates, MIT president Sally Kornbluth said in a statement announcing the appointment. (Photo credit: MIT)

MIT

Prof Chandrakasan becomes MIT's first Indian-American provost

PROF ANANTHA CHANDRAKASAN has been appointed as the new provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), becoming the first Indian-American to take on the role. Currently serving as MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer and dean of engineering, Chandrakasan will assume his new position on July 1.

Chandrakasan was selected from a group of internal candidates, MIT president Sally Kornbluth said in a statement announcing the appointment. She said he brings an exceptional record of innovation and leadership to the position.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India cancels London flight over aircraft unavailability

The flight was scheduled to depart on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo: Air India)

Air India cancels London flight over aircraft unavailability

AIR INDIA’s flight from Ahmedabad to London, operating under a new code following the June 12 crash, was cancelled on Tuesday (17) due to the unavailability of an aircraft. The airline cited airspace restrictions and precautionary checks as the cause.

The service, now listed as flight AI-159, replaced the earlier AI-171 flight which crashed shortly after take-off last Thursday (12), killing 270 people, including 29 on the ground. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had 242 passengers and crew on board, with only one survivor.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conference highlights religious persecution in Bangladesh and Baluchistan

Conference at Westminster Highlights Religious Persecution in Bangladesh and Baluchistan

Conference highlights religious persecution in Bangladesh and Baluchistan

A high-profile conference on religious freedom in Bangladesh and Baluchistan was held at Portcullis House, Westminster, organised by the Dharmic Ideas & Policy Foundation (DIPF), hosted by Bob Blackman MP (Harrow East), and supported by APPG leaders on Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB), including Richard James Shannon MP and Julie Jones on 9 June 2025.

Chairing the conference, Mr Blackman condemned the ongoing persecution of minorities in both regions, describing the situation as dire and deteriorating.

Keep ReadingShow less
abortion protests

Protesters hold up placards during a march through central London on June 17, 2023, to call for decriminalisation of abortion. (Photo: Getty Images)

Parliament to vote on abortion law reform for Women

MPs are expected to vote on Tuesday on a proposed change to abortion laws in England and Wales that would prevent women from being prosecuted for ending their own pregnancies.

Under current law, women can face criminal charges for terminating a pregnancy beyond 24 weeks or without the approval of two doctors. The law still carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK heatwave

The spike in temperature is due to a period of high pressure currently centred over the UK

iStock

UK weather forecast says heatwave is coming and it could last for days

Britons are set to enjoy a burst of summer sunshine as forecasters predict a heatwave over the weekend, with temperatures expected to rise higher than those in parts of southern Europe. The Met Office anticipates that the UK could experience its hottest days of the year so far, with the south-east likely to be the warmest region.

Temperatures to reach 32°C in parts of the UK

According to the latest weather forecast heatwave predictions, temperatures could peak at 32°C on Saturday, 21 June, and Sunday, 22 June in areas including London and Kent. These highs would surpass conditions in traditional holiday destinations such as Portugal and southern France.

Keep ReadingShow less