Jailed groomers branded ‘scum of the earth’ in court by victim

Two cousins who groomed vulnerable teenage girls to sexually abuse and pass around to other men were branded “scum of the earth” by a victim as they were jailed for a “campaign of rape”.

Paedophiles Manzorr Hussain, 54, and Imtiaz Ali, 53, both ran stalls at Bury market in Greater Manchester, where they first preyed upon the youngsters.

Both were convicted of multiple offences against girls, aged between 13 and 16, following a four-week trial earlier this year at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Hussain, a grandfather, of Manchester Road, Bury, was jailed for 30 years after being convicted of seven counts of rape and seven counts of indecent assault against five girls.

Ali, of Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, was jailed for 28 years after being convicted of five counts of rape, five counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.

Hussain waved to members of his family sat in the public dock as he was sent down.

Ali began abusing the girls with his relatives shortly after his arrival in the UK from Pakistan in 1996.

Hussain’s older brother Ghulam Hussain, 64, was arrested during the police investigation but fled the country, did not stand trial and is believed to be in Pakistan.

One victim tearfully read her victim impact statement from the witness box, shielded by screens from the defendants in the dock.

The woman said some men would come to her school to pick her up and she suffered three years of rape and sex abuse from the age of 13, leading to “30 years of shame”.

She added: “You are nothing better than paedophiles, rapists and scum of the earth. You are the lowest of the low.”

‘Complicit’

She told the court every agency or individual who had “covered up or turned a blind eye are all complicit”.

Jailing both men, Judge Bernadette Baxter told them: “You have shown not one jot of remorse or insight into your behaviour.

“You groomed, sexually abused and exploited the teen girls. Your offending can properly be described as a campaign of rape.”

The trial heard all five girls, now adults, were sexually abused by the brothers and cousin in the late 1990s. A sixth girl also alleged she was abused but was unable to relive her ordeal in court.

The sexual abuse took place mainly in Bury, but also elsewhere in the region and parts of Wales, including at houses, in vehicles, a hotel and a car dealership.

The court heard girls were often given drugs, including GHB, LSD, speed and cannabis, along with alcohol, then both Ali and Hussain would take turns to rape their victim.

On one occasion both of them trapped one girl in the back of a car and she was forced to perform oral sex on the men one after the other.

One victim, a girl then aged 14 or 15, was taken by Hussain along with another victim to a flat in Bury, where he had arranged with a gang of other men to make her available for sex.

Hussain ordered her into a bedroom, where there was one bed with a stained sheet on the mattress and no other furniture.

One after another six Asian men, who she did not know, entered the room to rape and sexually assault her.

Abandoned

One victim said she was threatened that if she did not comply she would be abandoned naked on the moors above Bury.

A number of the girls were particularly vulnerable, already having difficult home lives and troubled backgrounds.

The men took advantage, grooming them with attention, showering them with gifts of drink and drugs, and sometimes a place to spend time the trial heard.

In the end, the girls were made to feel they “owed” the men.