Seven Asian men found guilty in historic Rochdale grooming trial

Seven men of Asian-origin have been found guilty of sexually exploiting two vulnerable white schoolgirls in Rochdale, following a harrowing case that exposed years of grooming, abuse, and coercion.

According to police, the defendants preyed on the vulnerabilities of the victims to groom them as “sex slaves” from the age of 13 on various dates in the Greater Manchester town between 2001 and 2006.

Both girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were given drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, places to stay and people to be with, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Soon after, they were expected to have sex “whenever and wherever” the defendants and other men wanted in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.

Jurors deliberated for three weeks before delivering their unanimous guilty verdicts on Friday.

Three of the abusers, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50 – all born in Pakistan – were stallholders on the town’s indoor market.

Father-of-three Zahid – known as Boss Man – gave away undergarments from his lingerie stall to both complainants, and also money, alcohol and food in return for the expectation of regular cohabitation with him and his friends.

In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case after he engaged in sexual activity in 2006 with a 15-year-old girl whom he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.

Bashir did not attend the current trial as jurors were ordered not to speculate, but it can be revealed that he absconded while on bail before the trial got underway.

It can also be reported that co-defendants Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, and Nisar Hussain, 41, were remanded in custody with their bail revoked in January before the jury was sworn in.

Police received intelligence that the three Rochdale-born taxi drivers were planning to leave the UK and had already paid a deposit for their transport, the court heard.

All three denied the accusation but Judge Jonathan Seely said the court was not prepared to take a risk that they too would abscond.

A seventh defendant, Pakistani-born Roheez Khan, 39, also featured in another previous Rochdale grooming trial in 2013 when he was one of five men convicted of sexually exploiting a “profoundly vulnerable” 15-year-old girl in 2008 and 2009.

Khan was jailed for six-and-a-half years for engaging in sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation.