Ringleader of Rochdale grooming gang jailed for 35 years

The ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang that used two teenage girls as "sex slaves" has been sentenced for a range of sexual offences.

Members of the gang expected sex wherever and whenever, including in filthy flats, cars, car parks, alleyways, disused warehouses and on rancid mattresses, a court heard. Some of the men groomed the victims when they worked at an old market stall in the town, run by Mohammed Zahid, 64, who was nicknamed 'Boss man'.

A court previously heard that Zahid felt he was "almost untouchable" and gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to both girls, along with money, alcohol and food in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends. Zahid of Crumpsall, Manchester, denied the allegations but was previously found guilty of 20 offences, including rape, indecency with a child, and attempting to procure a girl into having unlawful sexual intercourse.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. A further six men denied wrongdoing, but a jury unanimously found them guilty.

The men, who were also sentenced today, are: • Kasir Bashir, 50, of Oldham, who was found guilty of four offences, including rape and indecency with a child. He was sentenced to 29 years in absence - he fled the UK before trial; • Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, of Oldham, who was found guilty of nine offences, including rape and indecency with a child.

He was jailed for 27 years; • Roheez Khan, 39, of Rochdale, who was found guilty of one offence of rape. He was jailed for 12 years; • Mohammed Shahzad, 44, of Rochdale, who was found guilty of six offences, including rape and assault by penetration.

He was jailed for 26 years; • Nisar Hussain, 41, of Rochdale, who was found guilty of three offences, including rape and assault by penetration. He was jailed for 19 years; • Naheem Akram, 48, of Rochdale, who was found guilty of seven offences, including rape and assault by penetration.

He was jailed for 26 years. Survivor 'failed woefully,' says judge Handing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Jonathan Seely said that "both girls were highly vulnerable, both had deeply troubled backgrounds and were known to the authorities".

He added: "They were highly susceptible to the advances of these men and others, and both were sexually abused by numerous other men. "They were passed around for sex - abused, humiliated, degraded and then discarded.

Both were seriously let down by those whose job it was to protect them." He said Girl B was "failed woefully" and noted how she was "chillingly described" in a social services document as having prostituted herself at 10 years old. 'He felt almost untouchable' Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC told Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court that Zahid's offending "centred around his stall, which allowed him to meet many girls who he groomed and later introduced to others".

"(Girl B) was in the care system for most of her young life, and Mohammed Zahid knew about that," he said. "It got to a stage where he was confident that nothing would be done about it, and he would ring the care home and would also go there to pick her up and drop her off.

"Such was the brazen way he did this that by the end of the abuse, he felt almost untouchable. It's not as if she had no-one to turn to.

She turned to the care home. She turned to social services.

"She felt able to tell them at some stages, or other people did, and nothing was done. People knew, authorities knew.

And nothing was done." Both victims, who were 13 at the start of the abuse and came from "troubled home lives.