EXCLUSIVEBritain’s Asian grooming gangs scandal laid bare: Interactive map reveals shocking extent of predatory men who sexually abused young girls across FORTY ONE UK towns… and the staggering number now free and back on the streets

The full extent of the UK’s paedophile Asian grooming gangs shame is laid bare by a shocking MailOnline investigation today.

For more than two decades depraved gangs of mostly Pakistani men preyed on vulnerable children and teenage girls across the UK with impunity while those in power struggled to get to grips with the crisis.

In what has now exploded into an international scandal, billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk sparked a transatlantic war-of-words with Keir Starmer – with his government voting against a Tory demand to hold a full new inquiry.

Now, for the first time, MailOnline is publishing an interactive map which illustrates in the fullest detail to date the extent to which the grooming and rape culture spread across the towns of England.

Our unique digital map reveals the 41 towns in England where children and young women were targeted by the perverted gangs, around 76 gangs in total, taking in all corners of the country, from Plymouth in the south west and Ramsgate in south east, to Barrow in the north west and Newcastle in the north east.

And our research has found that of the 396 known groomers to be convicted and jailed over the last two decades, at least 155 have now been quietly released and are back on our streets – many living back in the very towns they previously prowled for victims.

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Our revelation this week that the ringleader of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang Qari Abdul Rauf is back in the Greater Manchester town – almost a decade after being released from jail – caused outrage.

Instead of being deported to Pakistan as a judge recommended, Rauf is walking around Rochdale ‘like he owns the place’.

But we have further learned that Rauf is far from alone in having returned to the scene of his sickening crimes.

Some released more recently have been banned from returning to their old haunts.

These included Banaras Hussain, a member of the Rotherham gang whose victims included campaigner Sammy Woodward. He was released in December after serving just nine years of his 19-year sentence – but on condition that he doesn’t enter the Yorkshire town.

But shockingly many released previously have had no such restrictions – meaning their victims might easily see them around their own homes.

Among other serial abusers that MailOnline has established are living back in the very towns they prowled for victims are:

Azeem Subhani – part of a Halifax grooming gang which subjected Cassie Pike (who later waived her right to anonymity) to 50 attacks which started when she was just 13. Subhani, now 33, was released back on to the streets of the West Yorkshire town after serving half of his nine-year sentence. He has moved back to his family’s corner plot home in the Pellon area of the town, where he runs a home-based internet retail business. He was seen on Friday returning from prayers at a local mosque.

Kabeer Hassan, the youngest member of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang, is back living with his mother in the town. Now 37, he was convicted of raping a girl at a takeaway where he worked. Neighbours at his family home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, insist he is a ‘changed man’. If he has changed his lifestyle he hasn’t changed career – he now works ‘at a different takeaway’.

Mohammed Liaqat, the ringleader of a gang which groomed and abused teenage girls in Derby was described by the judge who jailed him for 11 years as ‘evil’. Many of his gang’s young victims were plied with alcohol or drugs before being raped in cars, rented houses or hotels across the Midlands. Liaqat is now back at his family home in the city.

For victims, and indeed the wider public, the release of dangerous criminals back into their communities can be extremely traumatising.

And even when they are banned from returning to their old haunts, there is little if any enforcement to stop them.

Taxi driver rapist Asghar Bostan, 53, served four-and-a-half years of a nine-year term handed down in 2018, after being convicted of two rapes of a girl under 16 between 2000 and 2002.

The victim had been assured by prosecutors in 2018 that his conditions after release included not moving back to Rotherham – but later saw him just a mile from her home, leading him to be recalled to a Category B prison for breaching the terms of his release.

Wherever you stand on the need for an inquiry and who is to blame, there has never been an easier way to comprehend what happened and where than our map.

This is the grim story of what happened in each of these haunted towns.

1. Aylesbury – Buckinghamshire:

In 2015, a grooming gang of six men were jailed for a total of 82 years for grooming and raping vulnerable girls who were forced into sex for the price of a ‘McDonald’s, a milkshake and a cinema ticket’.

The monster paedophile ring operated between 2006 and 2012 included multiple rapes of a child under 13, child prostitution and administering a substance to ‘stupefy’ a girl in order to engage in sexual activity.

On September 7 2015, the vile group were finally brought to justice. Vikram Singh, Asif Hussain, Arshad Jani, Mohammed Imran, Akbari Khan and Taimoor Khan were jailed for between three years and 19-and-a-half years.

The years of abuse made one victim – referred to only as Child A – feel as though she had been ‘robbed of her teenage years’.

By the time the vulnerable girl was 16, she had been abused by just under 70 men, having initially caught the eye of stall holders in Aylesbury market, taxi and bus drivers.

The relentless abuse made her feel ‘worthlessness’ as she battled depression and alcohol addiction. She told the court at the time: ‘I feel my teenage years were taken away from me.’

Most of the men from the group are likely to be free from jail now, if they were released half-way through their sentence – as is the case for around 90 per cent of criminals sent to jail.

2. Banbury – Oxfordshire:

Across the border in Banbury, Oxfordshire, more young girls were being abused by a similar grooming gang.

A gang of six men lured in vulnerable victims – girls aged between 13 and 16 – over social media and targeting underage parties before sexually abusing them.

One victim told Oxford Crown Court back in 2015 that the parties would be a ‘place where girls would go and the boys would choose their targets’.

The abuse was carried out between 2009 and 2014 with the gang being dragged into court in 2015.

There the group was found guilty of a string of sexual offences, including convictions of rape, sexual assault and sex with a child.

Ahmed Hassan-Sule, Mohamed Saleh, Said Saleh, Takudzwa Hova, Kagiso Manase and Zsolt Szalontai were jailed on April 20 2015.

The men, who were between the ages of 18 and 26, were handed sentences ranging between three and nine years, meaning the majority are most likely now out of jail.

More recently, however, Banbury was targeted by another grooming gang. 

Schoolgirls were plied with drink, drugs and cash in the early 2000s.

Samuel Osei-Bempong’s victim, who became pregnant after being attacked by the leader of the gang, said she felt as ‘just a bit of meat to the men’.

Finally being brought to justice on October 6 2023, the now father-of-three was handed 10 years in jail after being convicted of two counts of rape, and cleared of molesting another girl.

His co-defendant Bashiru Umar was arrested after flying from his native Nigeria to New York and was jailed for three years after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a third victim.

3. Birkenhead – Merseyside:

Merseyside brothers Ilvarasan Rajenthiram and Vinothan Rajenthiram used their family’s corner shop in Birkenhead, Walton and Garston to target underage girls between 2010 and 2016.

Nine girls, mostly aged between 14 and 16, were targeted as they visited shops in the Wirral. The depraved pair would offer the youngsters free drinks and sweets to gain friendships with the schoolgirls before later abusing them.

On May 15 2017, Ilvarasan Rajenthiram was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 18-and-a-half years in jail, plus an extended licence of four years.

He had been found guilty of 15 counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of sexual assault and two counts of perverting the course of justice.

His older brother Vinothan Rajenthiram was jailed for 14 years, plus an extended licence of four years, after he was convicted of four counts of sexual assault, one rape, four counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of perverting the course of justice.

The brothers, from Sri Lanka, had denied all the allegations throughout their trial.

4. Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and Leeds, West Yorkshire:

In a more recent case of justice, a trio of brothers have been found guilty in carrying out a number of child sex offences in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and Leeds between 1996 and 2010.

The depraved Miah brothers carried out assaults on little girls as young as six or seven.

The abuse lasted several years.

Eldest brother Shaha Joman Miah was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault, four counts of indecency with a child, three counts of sexual activity with a child, five counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, nine counts of rape of a child, six counts of sexual assault of a child, and five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Middle brother Shaha Amran Miah was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault, seven counts ofIndecency with a child, one court of rape of a child, one count of kidnapping, two counts of Intimidation and one count of Sexual Assault.

Youngest brother Shaha Alman Miah was found guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a child.

The wicked trio are due to be sentenced next month on February 21 2025 at Preston Crown Court.

5. Birmingham, West Midlands:

Back in November 2014, a group of six men were banned by a High Court from having any contact with children after they were found to be grooming a young girl.

The Asian grooming gang were caught ‘red-handed’ luring a vulnerable 17-year-old, who was in care, into cars and hotel rooms. The grooming took place between

In what sparked a furious backlash, the men’s identity was initially kept secret as West Midlands Police claimed that naming them could breach their human rights.

The men were banned from approaching the girl again until she turned 18 and banned from any contact with girls under-18 that they did not already know.

A lawyer for West Midlands Police said the men – some of whom had criminal records, one for a sex offence – could be attacked by vigilantes.

However, a judge later ruled this was ‘nonsense’ and that ‘it was the men’s ‘own reprehensible conduct which has put them into this position’.

The men’s names – Mohammed Anjam, 31, Omar Ahmed, 27, Naseem Khan, 29, Mohammed Javed, 34, Alam Shah, 37, and Sajid Hussein, 40 – were made public on November 19 2014.

6. Bradford – West Yorkshire

A victim of nine-strong grooming gang in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was left feeling as though she was ‘nothing but a toy to play with’ after the paedophiles piled her with drink and raped her when she was just 14-years-old.

On February 27 2019, the depraved group of men were jailed for a total of 132 years for grooming and abusing their teenage victims, both of whom were being cared for in a children’s home.

One of the victims said it was a case of ‘clear, determined and insidious grooming’. The other victim spoke of how she had suffered with PTSD, self-harm and suicide attempts as a result of the abuse.

Basharat Khaliq, Saeed Akhtar, Naveed Akhtar, Parvaze Ahmed, Izar Hussain, Zeeshan Ali, Kieran Harris, Fahim Iqbal and Mohammed Usman were all given sentences ranging from seven years to 20 years.

7. Brierfield – Lancashire

On April 26 2013, Mohammed Imran Amjad, was jailed for four years and three months after pleading guilty of sexual activity with a child and three counts of child abduction in 2009 and 2010.

His victim was a young girl, just 13-years-old when she was first abducted and abused.

A few months later, the predator’s brother Furqan Amjad was sentenced to 15 months in jail for perverting the course of justice after bombarding his brother’s victim with 350 texts in a bid to silence her.

In September that year, Qasim Hussain, was also jailed for four years for perverting the course of justice after trying to cajole the girl into sending a retraction letter to the courts.

8. Bristol City – Bristol

Young girls in care also became the targets in Bristol where the five victims between the ages 13 and 17, two of whom were sisters, were abused by a Somali prostitution ring.

The abuse, which took place throughout 2011, at one point saw two gang members check into a Premier Inn hotel before going on to rape a 13-year-old schoolgirl three times.

Some of the girls were groomed so badly that they believed the sexual abuse they received was a normal part of a loving relationships.

They were groomed to believe that having sex with their boyfriend’s friends was part of their ‘culture and tradition’.

The victims, described as ‘vulnerable’ due to their age and circumstances, were paid as little as £30 or given drugs, alcohol and gifts to perform sex acts on older men.

Abuse of one girl, which lasted a horrific five months, only ended when police entered a property after social workers raised concerns about the teenager.

There she was found crying in a cupboard under the kitchen sink wearing only her underwear, the court was told at the time.

A total of 13 men were convicted of charges including rape, sexual activity with a child, facilitating child prostitution, trafficking, paying for the sexual services of a child and drug offences.

Mustapha Farah, Liban Abdi, Arafat Osman, Abdulahi Aden, Mustafa Deira, Idleh Osman, Sakariah Sheik, Jusuf Abdirizak, Abdirashid Abdulahi, Omar Jumale and Mohamed Dahir were all handed jail terms between two and 13 years.

9. Burton-on-Trent – Stafford

More recently, a grooming gang of seven men in Burton-on-Trent in Stafford were handed a jail term totaling 51 years.

The men were found guilty of offences including rape, child abduction and various sexual offences, after three, vulnerable thirteen-year-old girls were abused.

The gang carried out the sickening abuse between May and September 2018, before being arrested in December 2019.

David Korosi, Maxim Hanko, Adrian Rihard Demeter, Renato Daniel Nyari, Dominik Beri, Jeno Pierre Maka and Mate Maka were all handed sentences between three and 14 years on July 28 2022.

10. Bury – Greater Manchester

Brothers Muhammad and Hashim Hussain were jailed on May 17 2021 for grooming and abusing vulnerable teenage girls following a police probe into child exploitation in Bury.

Muhammad was sentenced to six years and two months in prison after a jury found him guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting another girl, also aged 14.

Meanwhile, Hashim was sentenced to four years behind bars after he filmed a group of men engaging in sexual activity with two other girls, aged 16 and 17, on two separate occasions.

One of the victim’s said that the brothers’ had ‘ruined her life’ and that she still has nightmares about it.

‘It took away my childhood,’ she said. ‘After what happened, I went off the rails. It affected everything.’

11. Calerdale – West Yorkshire

In November of last year, a staggering 20 men were finally named publicly after being jailed in 2021 for the rape and abuse of four young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 in Calerdale, West Yorkshire.

The abuse by the depraved Asian grooming gang took place between 2001 and 2010, with police enquiries beginning when it came to light when one of the girls was being repeatedly abused.

Until November 2024, the names of the sick individuals had not been disclosed due to reporting restrictions.

Their names are: Mohammed Akhtar, Malik Quadeer, Amir Shaban, Mohammed Ziareb. Imran Raja Yasin, Kamran Amin, Saquab Hussain, Haroon Sadiq, Shafiq Ali Rafiq, Sarfraz Rabnawaz, Shahzad Nowaz, Nadeem Nassir, Sajid Adalat, Sohail Zaffer, Shazad Nazir, Nadeem Adalat, Asad Mahmood, Mohammed Rizwan Iqbal, Vaseem Adalat and Craig Mitchell.

The men were given a combined jail time of 219 years, with the sentences ranging from 22 years to three years and six months.

Many of the men will still be in jail, but some will have been released. Meanwhile Mohammed Akhtar, who was found guilty of rape and was sentenced to 11 years, died while serving his sentence.

12. Carlisle – Cumbria

Married father-of-four Azad Miah was jailed for 15 years after hounding girls as young as 12 for sex while running a brothel.

Miah, who ran a takeaway shop in Carlisle, groomed the girls, targeting victims from poor backgrounds and another who was a heroin addict.

On May 14 2012 Miah was sentenced to nine years for four counts of paying for the sexual services of a child between 2006 and 2009, one year for keeping a brothel between 2005 and 2011 and five years for five counts of inciting child prostitution.

Concluding his trial, the judge said Miah could have been brought to justice earlier if the complaints of witnesses, including a 12-year-old girl, had been taken seriously when first raised.

13. Chelmsford – Essex

In Chelmsford, Essex, a 14-year-old girl was groomed by an Iranian sex gang, who operated out of a pizza takeaway shop before later abusing her in a dirty room above the shop.

Mohammad Rostami lured the girl into believing she was his girlfriend when she was aged just 13 or 14.

The young girl was given cocaine, which she later became addicted to, before entering a relationship with Rostami.

He then later pimped her out, making her have sex with much older men in return for drugs or money.

Ringleader Rostami was given a 21-year sentence on January 12 2017 after being found guilty of one count of causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child aged under 18, two counts of sexual activity with a child aged under 16 and three counts of supplying cocaine, cannabis and mephedrone.

His gang members – Mehdi Zare, Amin Kaveh, Asadollah Zare, Ebrahim Zare – were also jailed later that year for sentences ranging between two and 10 years.

Some of their charges included, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault and supply Class A or Class B drugs.

14. Chesham – Buckinghamshire

For eight months between December 2011 and July 2012, a fourteen-year-old girl in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, was repeatedly abused by a grooming gang.

The teenager was often plied with alcohol before being made to perform sex acts on or have full sex on the group of four men, on one occasion being blackmailed into having sex.

Ringleader Nazakat Mahmood was jailed for 13 and a half years after being found guilty on June 30 2014 of even counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

His gang members and co-conspirators Ghulfaraz Nawaz, Harron Rauf and Omar Sharif, were handed sentences between five and a half to eight years.

Their convictions included sexual activity with a child and assault by beating.

15. Coventry – West Midlands

In one grooming gang case in Coventry, the despicable group of five men used social media, in particular Facebook, to target their child victims.

The vile crew targeted a number of girls, striking between 2015 and 2016.

The men, who were described as ‘desciable rats’ by one girl’s uncle, targetted young, vulnerable individuals, some of whom were in care.

In some cases, the abusers took the young girls to secluded areas of Coventry before givingh them drugs or alochol to abuse them or traffic them for sex.

In one harrowing case, a girl was knocked out by one of the men. When she eventually came round, she woke up to find them watching a video of her being raped while she was unconscious.

Waqaar Khan, Marcus Woolcock, Kadeem Bourne, Keenan Kelly, and Zahid Chaudhary, were convicted of 18 offences at Warwick Crown Court on January 26 2017.

The convictions included rape, sexual abuse and sex trafficking with the jail terms ranging from two years and six months to 14 years and six months.

16. Derby – Derbyshire

Two different grooming gangs have roamed throughout Derby in the last 15 years.

In the first case, 26 young girls were targetted in a shocking case of abuse – with some victims being as young as 13.

Similarly echoing other grooming cases, the girls were plied with alcohol or drugs. They were then taken to hotels across the West Midlands where they would be abused.

The men would repeatedly call and text the girls, sometimes picking them up in ‘flashy cars’ or offering them cigarettes.

Throughout the court case at Leicester Crown Court, one victim described being sexaully assaulted by eight men at once.

In 2010, Mohammed Liaqat, Abid Saddique, Mohammed Imran Rehman, Ashley Kumar, Naweed Liaqat and Farooq Ahmed were all sentenced for their involvement in the grooming.

Their jail terms ranged from 18 months to 11 years with their disgusting actions leading to various convictions including rape, sexual assault and causing a young person under the age of 18 to be involved in pornography.

In a second chilling case in Derby, which took place between 2009 and 2010, eight men were found guilty after preying on young girls between the ages of 13 and 15.

The girls were picked up from care homes or the street by men who were aged between 35 and 60.

The disgusting men slept with the girls in exchange for as little as £5, cigarettes, drugs, mobile phones and treats – including a child’s toy and rides on a farmer’s tractor.

The men – Anthony Lambert, Stefan Godfrey, John Shaw, Ijaz Ahmed, Mark Adaoui, Colin Simpson, David Shardlow and Ian Yeoman – were jailed for a total of 42 years on September 25 2012.

Their sentences ranged from four to six years, with the majority of the convictions centring around paying under aged girls for sex.

The men, if not sentenced for further crimes, will all have been released from jail now.

17. Halifax – West Yorkshire

A gang of 15 men from Halifax, West Yorkshire, abused two young girls between 2009 and 2011.

Most of the abuse centred around one victim who was just 13-years-old when it began. The youngster had an uneasy family life when the grooming began.

She is said to have been ‘used like a sex toy’ by the gang over the two-year period of abuse.

The abuse later led her to become addicted to drugs and alcohol before eventually being taken into care after the attacks stopped in 2011.

The other victim was sexually assaulted in her car.

Following three separate trials, all fifteen men were sentenced on June 17 2016. The shortest sentence was 15 months whilst the longest was 25 years following what was described as a ‘long and complex’ police probe.

The names of those in the 15-strong gang are: Hedar Ali, Haider Ali, Khalid Zaman, Mohammed Ramzan, Tahir Mahmood, Taukeer Butt, Haaris Ahmed, Amaar Ali Ditta, Azeem Subhani, Talib Saddiq, Sikander Malik, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Mansoor Akhtar, Sikander Ishaq and Fasil Mahmood.

Their crimes included rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault and supplying Class B drugs.

In 2019, six members of the gang tried to appeal their convictions but this was thrown out by a judge who said the victim’s ordeal ‘transcends the imagination of most people’.

18. Huddersfield – West Yorkshire

In 2018, twenty men, of mainly Pakistani origin, were all found guilty as part of a Huddersfield grooming gang that raped and abused girls, some of who were as young as 11.

The campaign of abuse last seven years between 2004 and 2011 in which time the men plied 15 victims with drink and drugs before abusing them.

On October 19 2018, the men were convicted of more than 120 offences against 15 girls.

The men held such a powerful grip on some of the girls that one cracked her head after deciding to jump from a first floor balcony after being ordered to meet them.

She later told police: ‘Every time I went out something bad happened. I risked my life every time. I was a mess.’

Another one of the girl’s was only able to escape the abuse when her family’s home burnt down and they were forced to move.

‘It was the best thing I ever did, and that’s bad saying that burning your house down is the best thing you ever did,’ she later said.

The ringleader, Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 35, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years, while the other gang members were handed sentences between five and 18 years.

The other gang members names were: Irfan Ahmed, Zahid Hassan, Mohammed Kammer, Mohammed Rizwan Aslam, Abdul Rehman, Raj Singh Barsran, Nahman Mohammed, Mansoor Akhtar, Wiqas Mahmud, Nasarat Hussain, Sajid Hussain, Mohammed Irfraz, Faisal Nadeem, Mohammed Azeem, Manzoor Hassan, Mohammed Akram, Niaz Ahmed, Asif Bashir and Mohammed Imran Ibrar.

They were all given various different charges. Some included rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation, supplying Class A drugs and inciting child prostituion.

Three years later, on July 16 2021, a trio of sex offenders Banaras Hussain, Talish Ahmed, and Mohammed Akram were finally brought to justice after abusing a girl when she was just 12-years-old between 1995 and 1998.

Throughout the campaign of abuse, the girl, who was targetted while wearing her school uniform, was raped in her at a playground and in her own bedroom.

Hussain, who was 19 and married when he groomed the girl, was sentenced to 18 years for two offences of rape against a female aged under 16.

Ahmed was handed 10 years for the rape of a female aged under 16 and Akram, also 19 and in a relationship at the time, was handed a 13-year sentence for two offences of rape and one offence of indecent assault.

19. Ilford and Barking – Essex

A trio were jailed for running an east London prostitute ring after preying on at least six teenage girls .

On September 12 2013, Naeem Ahmed, Nabeel Ahmed, and Hassan Raza, were locked up for a total of 24 years for carrying out the abuse.

On one occasion, the men took turns in abusing an 18-year-old after they plied her with drinks.

On another, a victim claimed she was held down and raped by two of the men after she agreed to work as a prostitute for Naeem. He later told the girl his ‘love for her would grow’ if she slept with other men for cash.

Naeem, the ringleader and self-styled ‘pimp’, was arrested after police investigated concerns about suspected abuse of two girls under the care of Essex County Council.

He was handed eight years. Ahmed was given eight years and Raza was locked up for two years. It means the trio will all be out of jail now if not convicted for other crimes.

20. Ipswich – Suffolk

In April 2013, another trio of men, also from east London, were jailed after they abducted a 13-year-old girl and used her as a sex slave.

The victim – who is said to have had a troubled family life at home – was driven to a house in Ipswich where she was kept and abused for four days, leaving the girl traumatised.

Mohammed Sheikh, Hamza Ali, and Suran Uddin, were convicted of various sex offences and trafficking.

Uddin was jailed for 15 years, Sheikh for eight years and Ali for five years.

21. Keighley – West Yorkshire

In Keighley, West Yorkshire, a shocking case of abuse took place when a single, female victim was abused by a grooming gang of 12.

The teenager was attacked repeatedly over 13 months between 2011 and 2012, being raped and forced to have sex with men in various public locations – including an underground car park and a grave yard.

The girl had been preyed on because of her vulnerability and ‘chaotic existance’ which saw her reported missing to the police 70 times over two years.

The dozen vile men were handed jail sentences lasting up to 20 years for various offences, most commonly rape, but also sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

The gang’s names included:

22. Kirklees and Dewsbury – West Yorkshire

In April 2024, another West Yorkshire grooming gang were brought to justice.

Following the horrendous abuse of eight young girls between 1999 and 2012, 24 men were finally jailed last year for their involvement in the ordeal.

West Yorkshire Police said the victims were treated as ‘defenceless commodities to be abused and traded at whim’.

The names were finally released after a reporting restriction was lifted.

Zafar Qayum was given the longest sentence of up to 30 years in jail after being found guilty of six counts of rape, five counts of indecent assault and three counts of aiding and abetting rape

The other men were handed sentences ranging between four and a half and 24 years.

The other gang members names were: Khurum Raziq, Nasar Hussain, Ansar Qayum, Mohammed Jabbar Qayum, Mohammed Imran Zada, Michael Birkenshaw, Amran Mehrban, Sarkaut Yasen, Mohammed Saleem Nasir, Irfan Khan, Omar Farooq Hussain, Sarfraz Hussain Riaz, Zafar Iqbal, Nasar Iqbal, Mohammed Chothia, Bilal Patel, Asif Ali, Mohammed Tauseef Hanif, Ali Shah, Moshin Nadat, Safraz Miraf, Mohammed Nazam Nasser and Amir Ali Hussain.

23. Leicester – Leicestershire

In Leicester, a grooming gang of six men were thrown behind bars after they offered to pay a vulnerable 16-year-old girl money for sex.

The victim, who was abused and ‘used as a sexual commodity’ in 2012 in Leicester, was left with internal injuries as a result of the abuse.

The vulnerable teen had been drinking, smoking cannabis and self-harming and was needing to make money after her parents threatened to throw her out of the house.

As a result, she started allowing boys at college to pay for sex before she met the men from Leicester, meeting the first man at a Dilwai festival.

On August 30 2013, Aabidali Mubarak Ali, Rakib Iacub, Wajid Usman, Hamza Imtiazali, Bharat Modhwadia and Chandresh Mistry were all jailed.

Their sentences lasted between eight months and five years. Their charges included paying for sexual services of a child, facilitating child prostitution and inciting child pornography.

24. Middlesbrough – North Yorkshire

Victims in Middlesborough were left ‘scarred’ after being treated as ‘objects for sexual pleasure’ by a trio of child abusers.

Taxi driver Shakil Munir, Ateeq Latif, and pizza shop worker Sakib Ahmed groomed teenage girls by offering them takeaway food, free lifts and even drugs.

On February 13 2014 at Teesside Crown Court, Munir and Ahmed were both jailed for eight years and Latif was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution. It means all men should have been released from jail by now.

25. Newcastle – Tyne and Wear

Throughout 2011 to 2014 in Newcastle, 20 young girls became targets of an 18-strong grooming gang.

The victims, all from vulnerable backgrounds and some as young as 14-years-old, were often plied with drugs and alcohol before being abused.

Eighteen people – 17 men and one woman – were convicted and handed jail sentences, with more than 100 charges eventually being brought.

Those prosecuted were from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish communities in Newcastle and mainly British-born.

Charges included rape, conspiracy to incite prostitution, beating, trafficking to the UK for sexual exploitation and supplying drugs.

26. Nottingham – Nottinghamshire

Between February 2017 and January 2019, three young girls were groomed and sexually abused by a trio of men.

Mohammed Saeed Ahmed admitted engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing or inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a girl under 16.

Then on March 29 2021, he was jailed for three years and given a restraining order against the girls.

Similarly Waqas Akhtar was found guilty of sexual activity with a girl under 16, penetrative sexual activity with a girl under 16, two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, and meeting a girl under 16 years of age following grooming.

He was jailed for seven years and six months.

A third man, Hamza Shazad, was handed a 16 month sentence suspended for 18 months after admitting to three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of distributing indecent images of a child and another charge of possessing extreme pornographic images.

One of the victims described the ordeal as the ‘worst time’ of her life, feeling ‘utterly betrayed’ by Ahmed.

It left the young woman with anxiety and depression and affected her relationship with other people.

27. Oxford – Oxfordshire

In the city of Oxford, there have been a number of grooming gangs that have been convicted for various child sexual offences over the last decade with the first convictions being brought in 2013.

On June 27 2013, two pairs of brother from a sadistic sex ring were jailed for life.

The abuse of six girls, aged between 11 and 15, lasted between 2004 and 2012. During that time the girls would be plied with alcohol and drugs.

They were then forced to perform sex acts on the men. Some were beaten and burned.

The five men – two of east African origin and five of Pakistani origin – were sentenced between 12 and 20 years, with one sentenced to life. Their charges included child rape and trafficking.

The names of the first gang uncovered in the city were: Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Assad Hussain and Mohammed Karrar.

Over the next decade more grooming gangs were uncovered in Oxford, seeing a further 16 men sentenced in June 2014, March 2015, June 2018 and February 2020, for similarly outrageous crimes.

Mostly recently in February 2020 a trio of men – named Naim Khan, Mohammed Nazir, and Raheem Ahmed – were put behind bars for using a girl as a ‘sexual commodity’ when she was 13 to 15, between the years of 1999 to 2001.

A serious case review launched by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership 373 children, including 50 boys, could have been groomed and sexually exploited in the area.

The report accused Thames Valley Police of not believing youngsters when they complained.

28. Peterborough – Cambridgeshire

As with Oxford, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire has also seen multiple court cases regarding grooming taking place over the last decade.

The biggest gang in Peterborough were slammed behind bars on February 20 2014 after a group of five men were found guilty of assaulting five teenage girls.

The men in the initial gang were called: Hassan Abdulla, Zdeno Mirga, Renato Balog, Jan Kandrac and Yasir Ali.

They were handed sentences between 12 and 20 years for offences which included rape, sexual assault and inciting a child to participate in sexual activity.

Between 2014 and 2015, four more men in Peterborough were also charged with similar offences. These men were: Daaim Ashraf, Mohammed Abbas, Mohammed Khubaib, Zdeno Mirga and Renato Balog.

29. Plymouth – Devon

In September 2024, a grooming gang of three men were jailed after they targeted and abused three teenage girls in Plymouth.

After a five-week trial at Plymouth crown court, a jury convicted three men of rape and sexual assault on four vulnerable teenage girls at drink and drug-fueled parties in the city held between February 2017 and December 2017.

Abalzaq Salih, 31, a Kuwaiti citizen living in Plymouth, was the party organiser. He was convicted of two rapes on girls under 16 at a party a few days before Christmas in 2017. He was jailed for 19 years.

Saif Kahya, 32, from Liverpool, who is now a father of two, was found guilty of raping a girl in 2017 and was jailed for 12 years.

Anthony Anantharajah, 35, from London, was found guilty of rape of a girl aged 16 or over in February 2017. He was jailed for 13 years.

30. Preston – Lancashire

In March 2020, two drug gang members were sent to jail for raping two vulnerable school – one of which woke up to find herself ‘being used like a rag doll’.

Ben Thompson and Mark Anderson were both found guilty of rape and given 20 year sentences.

The vile men gave one of the victims, then 15, vodka, wine and drugs, before they told her she had been ‘given things’ so she had to pay them back.

In turn she was raped by Anderson and then Thompson. But the brave young victim managed to fight the second man off by biting his genitals.

Anderson also raped a second teenager who had passed out from using drugs. The abuse was watched by other people who ‘saw and found it amusing’, a court heard.

31. Ramsgate – Kent

A 16-year-old girl who stopped and asked a group of men for directions in Ramsgate, Kent, when she got lost on a night out and became separated from her friends.

Tragically, the girl was then raped by three men and a teenage boy. She was later found crying by two people returning from a night out.

Rafiullah Hamidy, Shershah Muslimyar, Tamin Rahmani, and the 17-year-old, all denied rape but were found guilty and sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on September 8 2017.

The men were each handed 14 years.

32. Rochdale and Oldham – Greater Manchester

Rochdale and Oldham in Greater Manchester have been the epicentre of some of the most well-known grooming gang cases in the last two decades.

The first Asian grooming gang of nine men were sent to jail in May 2012 after exploiting girls as young as 13 for 19 years.

Liverpool Crown Court heard at the time that the girls were plied with drugs and alcohol and ‘passed around for sex’.

All those convicted were found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with girls under the age of 16, with convictions also being brought against some for rape and trafficking.

The men involved in the pivotal first grooming gang convictions in Rochdale and Oldham were ringleader Shabir Ahmed, Kabeer Hassan, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rauf, Adil Khan, Mohammed Sajid, Mohammed Amin, Hamid Safi, Abdul Qayyum

Khan even fathered a child of one of the 13-year-old victims.

Since then at least 38 men have been sent to jail between 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2023 for horrific crimes involving young girls.

The first probe was launched by the Home Affairs Select Committee and looked into grooming gangs in Rochdale.

It concluded that there had been a failure by police, social workers and Crown Proseuction Service (CPS) to protect children.

In 2022, following Telford’s inquiry into grooming gangs, Oldham Council also made its first bid to the Government to launch an inquiry into sexual abuse in the town. It was rejected by the Conservatives at the time.

A few months later, Greater Manchester’s individual inquiry into abuse in the town found that both the police and council had failed to protect children as well as cover up their failings.

Two years later, after the Labour Government takes control, Oldham Council once again asks for a Government-led inquiry, but Safeguarding Minister Ms Phillips rejects it.

33. Rotherham – South Yorkshire

Grooming gangs in Rotherham have similarly gathered a lot of attention over the years for the vast number of convictions made in the area.

The first five men were sentenced in November 2010 for depraved sex attacks against girls – some as young as 12-years-old.

The girl’s were groomed to believe they were in relationships with the men who would force them to have sex in cars and parks across Rotherham.

The despicable gang of five – Razwan Razaq, Umar Razaq, Zafran Ramzan, Mohsin Khan and Adil Hussain – were handed sentences lasting between four and 11 years.

Most of the charges revolved around having sexual activity with a child. Ramzan was found guilty of raping a child under the age of 16.

Over the next decade almost 50 men – and at least two women – were convicted for similar grooming charges.

Just last year, in September 2024, seven men from Rotherham were jailed for sex offences involving children in the early 2000s.

Mohammed Amar, Mohammed Siyab, Yasser Ajaibe, Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, Abid Saddiq, Tahir Yassin, Ramin Bari and Neil King were put behind bars.

They exploited two victims who were just aged 11 and 15 when the abuse began. Both girls were in care at the time.

The men were handed varying jail terms from five years to 24 years – some being charged with the most serious of grooming crimes, including rape and indecent assault.

The grooming was so widespread in Rotherham that an inquiry was launched in 2014.

The investigation led by Professor Jay and launched by the local council, found that 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013 by predominantly British-Pakistani men.

34. Sheffield – South Yorkshire

In Sheffield, an evil gang of four men were jailed for a combination of 70 years in jail after sexually exploiting and raping a girl.

Four of the gang, Jasim Mohammed, 37, Nzar Anwar, 40, Kawan Ahmed, 31, and Shangar Ibrahimi, 30, who were said to have treated the vulnerable youngster as ‘a piece of meat’, were all found guilty by a jury of raping the youngster between 2010 and 2012.

A fifth defendant – Saba Mohammed, 41, – was also jailed for perverting the course of justice.

The victim, who had already suffered abuse as a child prior to 2010, said the abuse continues to have a ‘devastating’ impact on her life.

In March 2020, the men were jailed from four years to 25 years for various convictions including rape and perverting the court of justice.

35. Skipton – North Yorkshire

In Skipton, a trio were jailed for a total of 18 years after they groomed a 14-year-old girl by plying her with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

On July 17 2009, Mohammed Zackriya, 21 was jailed for eight years for oral rape and five offences of sexual activity with a child.

Father-of-five Mohammed Shabir was jailed for five years for three offences of having sex with the girl at a takeaway restaurant in the town.

Mohammed Taj was jailed for five years for three offences of having sex with the girl in his car.

36. Stockport – Greater Manchester

Two vulnerable girls in Stockport, then aged between 14 and 16, were abused by a trio of groomers between 2008 and 2011.

The abuse case came to light after social workers found the girls were not at their homes and police later uncovered a ‘complex web of grooming behaviour’.

The victims, who later said the men were ‘disgusting people – horrible, horrible men,’ had been taken to hotels and private addresses, before being given alcohol and drugs. They were then abused.

On October 28 2013, the men were sentenced for their crimes.

Shamin Uddin was handed 19 years after being found guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape and one count of sexual activity with a child.

Giash Uddin was given six years for sexual activity with a child and Robert Jackson was handed 12 years for rape.

37. Stoke-on-Trent-Staffordshire

In July 2023, five men from Stoke-on-Trent were jailed for more than 65 years after they exploited two vulnerable children between 2019 and 2020.

The two victims were coerced and exploited by the group and as a result were arrested multiple times for drug offences – eventually telling officers about what had been happening.

As a result Umar Rafi, Usman Rafi, Muazzam Naseer, Haroon Hussain, Mohammed Hassain Shabir, Paul Malcolm Harnett, Lee Comley were placed in jail for a variety of offences, including exploitation of a child, forced and compulsory labour, and conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

38. Telford – Shropshire

As with Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford and Oldham, Telford has been one of the most discussed cities when it comes to the epidemic of grooming gangs across the UK.

At least three separate groups of men have been convicted after grooming vulnerable victims since 2012.

On October 5 2012, two Telford brothers were sent to jail for 18 and 14 years after they were found to have sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted or tried to prostitute Telford girls between 2008 and 2009.

Youngest brother Ahdel Ali, was found guilty of one charge of rape, 11 charges of sexual activity with a child, three charges of controlling child prostitution, one of inciting child prostitution, an allegation of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child after grooming.

He was given the longer sentence.

Eldest brother, Mubarek Ali was convicted of four charges of controlling child prostitution, two of trafficking in the UK for sexual exploitation and a charge of causing child prostitution.

Over the next decade convictions were brought against at least 10 men in Telford for similar crimes in 2017 and 2019.

An inquiry was later held into the Telford grooming gangs and its findings released in 2022 found that at least 1,000 girls had been abused in the town.

39. Tower Hamlets – Greater London

Just last month, in December 2024, two people in Tower Hamlets, Greater London were jailed following an investigation into payments for child sexual abuse.

Ferdous Ahmad and a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were found guilty after a two-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, 30 September.

Ahmad was convicted of two counts of sexual assault, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The woman was convicted of two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Ahmad was sentenced to 12 years in prison and issued with a Sexual harm Prevention Order and Restraining Order. The woman was sentenced to five years in prison.

40. Wendover – Buckinghamshire

Schoolgirls in Wendover, Aylesbury and High Wycombe were targeted by an Asian grooming gang from 2001.

The trio preyed on a schoolgirl, plying her with alcohol and drugs, including cannabis and heroin, before abusing her.

Harrowingly, as a result of the abuse she suffered as a teenager, the now grown-up woman told the court in an impact statement she suffers from depression and an alcohol addiction – which caused her to lose her children.

Mohammad Aslam was jailed for 20 years after being found of two counts of conspiracy to rape a girl under the age of 16, four counts of raping a girl under the age of 16, and one count conspiracy to indecently assault a girl under the age of 16.

Berkley John was found two counts of conspiracy to rape a girl under the age of 16; two counts of raping a girl under the age of 16 and one count of conspiracy to indecently assault a girl under the age of 16. He was handed 15 and a half years in jail.

Saeed Ahmed was given 18 months in jail after allowing his premises to be used for unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged between 13 and 15, and procuring a female under the age of 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a third person

41. Yeovil – Somerset

Back in 2010, in Yeovil, Somerset, six young girls, aged 14 and 15, were groomed by two men.

Ahmet Kurtyemez and Mehmet Citak, were sentenced to 20 years and 12 years respectively on November 2 2016 and Bristol Crown Court.

According to the detective in charge of the case, the two men ‘systematically abused these young children over a number of years – slowly eroding their confidence and making them think these crimes were acceptable’.

As a result, Citak was convicted of two counts of rape and seven counts of sexual assault.

Meanwhile Kurtyemez was found guilty of six counts of sexual assault.