Three men who sexually exploited two vulnerable teenage girls have been locked up for a total of 37 years.
Brothers Shamin and Giash Uddin and their friend Robert Jackson abused their underage victims, who were supplied with huge amounts of alcohol and drugs, at houses and hotels across Manchester between 2009-2011.
They were described as “dangerous” by a judge as he handed down lengthy prison sentences at Manchester Crown Court.
Both victims – who are from Stockport and were aged between 14 and 16 at the time of the abuse – were raped and encouraged to have sex with groups of men who groomed them with gifts of designer handbags, drink and drugs.
They were taken to parties at the men’s houses in areas including Whythenshawe and Chorlton-on-Medlock where they were raped while barely conscious.
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On one occasion, one of the victims, who was so drunk she could hardly stand, was taken to a ‘scruffy hotel’ in Longsight where a group of up to eight men tried to rape her.
One of the victims has told how she was introduced to smooth-talking Shamin Uddin by older girls at school when she was just 13.
He was 23, driving a flashy car and appearing sophisticated and kind.
She came from a respectable home, but soon started telling lies to her mum, telling her she was with friends when she was really with Uddin.
Within weeks of meeting him, she was being loaded with alcohol and the spiral of decline began.
She said: “My grades started to drop and I wasn’t really going home. At the time I didn’t realise what was happening to me. I thought it was normal. I thought this was what young girls did and this was what boyfriends did to their girlfriends. My relationship with my family had broken down but I was made to feel that Sham was my boyfriend.
“I had never been to parties before. In school I had good grades, I come from a good family. At the very beginning, I did feel safe around the men. They worked to gain my trust and recognise where I was vulnerable and to recognise my immaturity. The sexual abuse started within a few months. I was confused about what had happened when the abuse first took place. After a while I didn’t belong to Sham any more. It was all just a lie. Nothing took place when I was sober. I used to think that if I drank more I would be able to block it out and it would be over faster. It was horrible.
“I was threatened, I was left places. I was left on motorways. I was left in houses. I had my clothes taken from me, I had my phone taken. I didn’t tell mum anything. She asked for help and it was disregarded. The local authorities just thought I was being a teenager and a nuisance and just misbehaving. Nobody took notice and it wasn’t until it I had got so badly involved that I was coming home intoxicated by drugs and being sick and really poorly that the authorities took me seriously. By this point it was too late I was brainwashed completely. I kind of thought the relationship I was having was normal.
“I’m still scared. I don’t trust anybody any more. It will affect my life forever. It has ruined my life.”
The grooming trio
Shamin Uddin, 26, described in court as the ringleader, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for two counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape and one count of sexual activity with a child.
His brother Giash Uddin, 27 – who is already serving an eight-year sentence for drugs and guns offences – was sentenced to six years for sexual activity with one of the girls.
Robert Jackson, 24, of Bramwell Drive, Chorlton-on-Medlock, was sentenced to 12 years for rape, possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of cocaine.
All had been found guilty at a trial in July after pleading not guilty. Judge Michael Leeming said none of the defendants had shown any remorse for their offending.
He told them: “All three of you were convicted of serious sexual offending. I have no doubt that the three of you pose a significant risk of harm to the public.”
The cases came to court after social workers raised the alarm in March 2011 about the safety of girls who kept going missing from home. It led to a painstaking police operation in which 40 girls were interviewed.
Both girls gave evidence during the trial and the court heard how both ‘lost a part of their childhood’ because of the abuse and suffered from panic attacks, depression and self-harming.
A probe has been launched into whether police and social workers missed opportunities to prevent the abuse earlier.
Speaking after the case, Det Chief Insp Pete Marsh, who led the investigation, said: “This has been a long-running, difficult and complex enquiry, through which we have established these two young girls have been emotionally manipulated by a group of older men into believing the sexual abuse they were subjected to was ‘normal’ and acceptable behaviour.
“On numerous occasions, the girls were deliberately plied with alcohol to the point they could barely stand, before being raped by the men when they were not in a fit state to be able to even try and stop them,” he said.
