Six Asian grooming men convicted of raping two vulnerable schoolgirls have been sentenced to a combined 55 and a half years in prison

Six Asian men have been sentenced to a combined total of 55 and a half years for raping two vulnerable schoolgirls, one being 15 years old and forced to have sex with 300 men. 

Usman Ali, Banaras Hussain, Abdul Majid, Gul Riaz and two other defendants were sentenced today after a four-week trial at Leeds Crown Court.

A seventh man will be sentenced tomorrow.

The borrowing abuse took place between 1995 and 2011 in Huddersfield and the girls were aged just 13 and 14 when they fell victim to the vile grooming gang.

The court heard how the predators made the schoolgirls ‘feel special’ who treated them as ‘objects to be used and abused at will’.

The first victim had been raped by 300 men by the time she was 15.

Leeds Crown Court heard today how both girls now suffer with PTSD, while one of the victims has also had a lifelong struggle with depression and bulimia.

The defendants were convicted of nine counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault after the sixth trial to come from the Tendersea inquiry.

In a victim statement read out to the court, the victim said she kept the abuse ‘buried’ for 22 years citing a different incident where she ‘wasn’t believed’ by the police.

She said she had to ‘lay her soul bare’ in front of complete strangers.

Speaking of the first victim, prosecutor Andrea Parnham, told the court today: ‘She suffered from stress, anxiety, low self esteem, she has panic attacks.

The second victim who suffers from PTSD, depression and bulimia, was supplied with alcohol and drugs in order to have sex with older men.

It was said that the abuse often took place in cars, hotels and flats, including in a flat belonging to a man who was ‘involved with drugs and had a gun’.

Judge Geoffrey Marson described their actions as disgusting and degrading and said the sentences were severe to discourage other potential groomers.