Huddersfield: Two more men jailed for child sexual exploitation
Written by News on 22/06/2019
Two men have been jailed for the sexual exploitation of a vulnerable teenage girl.
The sentences given to Mohammed Akram and Usman Khalid at Leeds Crown Court bring the number of men convicted as part of West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Tendersea investigation in Huddersfield to 21, all serving a total jail term of 267 years.
Akram was found guilty in May of a range of offences, including rape, abduction and trafficking.
Another defendant, Usman Khalid, was convicted of the sexual assault of the same victim, who was exploited from the age of 12.
Akram was one of 20 men handed jail terms for similar offences last year, when he received a 17-year sentence for child sexual exploitation in the town in West Yorkshire.
This sentence has now been extended to 22 years following his latest convictions, West Yorkshire Police confirmed.
The jailing of the 20 gang members last year came as a series of court cases heard about the “inhuman” abuse of a total of 15 girls.
Akram and Khalid’s three-week trial was the fourth to take place in total involving the gang.
Prosecutor Richard Wright QC said that the victim was “deliberately targeted by men who wanted to use her for their own sexual purposes”.
He said both Akram, 33, and 31-year-old Khalid had “sexual contact” with the girl, even though they knew she was underage.
The court heard she had been taken out of the children’s home where she was living for a “sinister, ultimately sexually motivated purpose”.
Mr Wright said that the actions of the two defendants had contributed towards the girl being “drawn into a world in which she had little or no control of her life.
She was “utterly unable to make truly free or informed choices about anything where sex was concerned”.
A majority verdict found Akram, of Springdale Street, Huddersfield, guilty of four counts of rape, and a count of sexual assault.
He was also convicted of trafficking for sexual exploitation and abduction, but was cleared of one rape charge.
Khalid, of Brook Street, Huddersfield, was convicted of sexual assault.
Superintendent Marianne Huison, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “The abuse these individuals subjected a young and vulnerable girl to during the early years of her life was beyond comprehension and has continued to have a significant impact on her life.
“We welcome the significant sentences these men have been given as a result of their abhorrent and depraved actions and neglect of this victim as a child.
“During the course of this trial, the victim has showed incredible bravery to give evidence and repeatedly re-live the ordeal she experienced during her childhood.”
(c) Sky News 2019: Huddersfield: Two more men jailed for child sexual exploitation
