BRADFORD MAN JAILED FOR SEX ABUSE OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A man who "married" a 15-year-old girl in an Islamic wedding ceremony is among eight men to have been found guilty of sexual offences against her.The victim was groomed and sexually abused by men from the age of 13 and that continued when she was in a Bradford children's home, a trial heard.
A Bradford Crown Court jury was told the "wedding" in the early 2000s to Raja Zulqurnean, was attended by the victim's key social worker despite care home staff fearing that she was being exploited.
Zulqurnean, now 43, was found guilty of rape and indecent assault and jailed in May for a minimum of 18 years but that was increased to 23 years by appeal court judges.
The BBC is able to report the convictions of the eight British Pakistani men for the first time after reporting restrictions were amended.
Bradford Crown Court heard Zulqurnean forced the victim to wear Islamic dress and eat a halal diet and stopped her seeing family because they were "non-believers." His trial was told he sometimes locked the victim in a cellar at a property in Bradford, sexually abused her and deprived her of food, education and medical care.
