Gang ‘plied girls with drugs and drink for sex’

The case, involving 11 men, is being heard at Liverpool Crown Court. The court heard that five girls, all aged between 13 and 15, were passed around by the men and some were raped and physically assaulted. Some of the girls were allegedly forced to have sex “with several men in a day, several times a week”.

The offences are said to have taken place around Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009.

All of the men, who are between 22 and 59 and from Oldham and Rochdale, deny conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16.

‘Distressing’

Opening the case for the prosecution, Rachel Smith told the jury: “Some of you may find what you are about to hear distressing. The events and circumstances described by the girls are at best saddening and at worst shocking in places. No child should be exploited as these girls say they were.”

Miss Smith added: “There were also occasions on which one or more of the girls were so incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs that they were incapable of having any control over whether or with whom they had sexual intercourse.”

The court was told some of the defendants paid the girls and took payments from other men to whom they supplied the girls for sex.

No child should be exploited as these girls say they were Rachel Smith, prosecuting

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 11 men all knew each and the girls knew them by nicknames such as “Master” and “Tiger”. The girls would often spend their days “unsupervised by responsible adults”. They were not in school regularly and “drank and smoked and hung around with little to do”.

Miss Smith added they were the “sort of children who were easy to identify, target and exploit for the sexual gratification of these men”.

Pleaded not guilty

The defendants, Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, have all pleaded not guilty.

Hassan, of Lacrosse Avenue, Oldham, and Shahzad, of Tweedale Street, Rochdale, also deny rape. Aziz, of Armstrong Hurst Close, Rochdale, denies two counts of rape and one allegation of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Khan, of Oswald Street, and Rauf, of Darley Road, both in Rochdale, have also pleaded not guilty to trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Sajid, of Jepheys Street, Rochdale, denies trafficking, two counts of rape and one allegation of sexual activity with a child. Amin, of Falinge Road, Rochdale, denies sexual assault. Shah and Safi, both of Kensington Street, Rochdale, each denied two counts of rape and Safi has also pleaded not guilty to trafficking.

Aziz, Khan and Safi are remanded in custody. The rest of the defendants are on bail.