Nine Men Jailed in the Rochdale Grooming Case

In May 2012, Liverpool Crown Court jailed nine men for running a child sexual exploitation ring in Rochdale and Oldham, Greater Manchester — sentences ranging from four to nineteen years, in a case that forced Britain to confront a pattern of abuse it had been slow to name.

The men, eight of Pakistani origin and one from Afghanistan, were found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. The court heard that the group plied five victims — girls as young as thirteen — with drink and drugs and passed them between men for sex, with abuse taking place at two takeaway restaurants in the Heywood area of Rochdale.

Sentencing, Judge Gerald Clifton told the men they had treated the girls "as though they were worthless and beyond respect." When some of the defendants claimed the prosecution was racially motivated, he dismissed it: "What triggered this prosecution was your lust and greed."

The sentences reflected the court's assessment of each man's role. The ringleader, a 59-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons and who was convicted of rape, sexual assault, and trafficking for sexual exploitation, received 19 years; the judge called him an "unpleasant and hypocritical bully." Mohammed Sajid received 12 years, Kabeer Hassan and Abdul Aziz nine each, Adil Khan eight, Abdul Rauf six, Mohammed Amin and Abdul Qayyum five each, and Hamid Safi four. Sajid and Safi were ordered to be deported to Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively at the end of their sentences.

The case became a reference point in Britain's long reckoning with grooming gangs — and with the institutional failures that had allowed the abuse to continue. The girls had been failed, as the judge's own remarks acknowledged, before they ever met the men who exploited them.

This article summarizes contemporaneous reporting, including the BBC's May 2012 coverage of the trial. All named individuals were convicted in court.