JUDGE BOOSTS SENTENCES OF GROOMING GANG MEMBER FOR CHILD RAPE IN KEIGHLEY
Three members of a predatory grooming gang have had their sentences increased by the Court of Appeal.Ibrar Hussain, and brothers Imtiaz Ahmed and Fayaz Ahmed, were jailed for six-and-a-half years, nine years, and seven-and-a-half years respectively at Bradford Crown Court in January.
They were convicted of raping a girl in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the 1990s, when she was 13 or 14.
On Tuesday the Court of Appeal increased Hussain's sentence for two counts of rape to 10 years, Imtiaz Ahmed's to 11 years for one count of rape, and Fayaz Ahmed's was increased to 10 years for two counts of rape.
Their sentences had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.
On Wednesday Robert Jenrick, shadow justice secretary, welcomed the increase in the sentences, writing on X: "Yesterday the Court of Appeal found that these sentences were more than unduly lenient - they were significantly so." He added: "It is deeply troubling that these three offenders were part of a wider group tried for similar abuse.
But the statutory window for referring the other five sentences under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme has now expired.
That means justice delayed has become justice denied." Adding that the case should "mark a turning point", Mr Jenrick said that "serious concerns must now be raised about the consistency and adequacy of sentencing across the rape gangs trials as a whole".
During the hearing, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, with Mrs Justice Eady and Mr Justice Cavanagh, heard that the vulnerable victim met the men in the early 1990s, and was supplied with money, drugs and alcohol in return for sex.
She was taken to various places where she was raped over several years, including by Hussain and the Ahmed brothers.
Ibrar Hussain and Fayaz Ahmed were 18 and 17 respectively when they carried out their offences, and Imtiaz Ahmed was in his 30s.
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby said: "This case involved the shocking and hideous abuse of a vulnerable teenager by these three sexual predators.
I referred these sentences to the Court of Appeal because in my view they were unduly lenient." She added: "I very much welcome the Court of Appeal's significant increases to these sentences."
