Rochdale grooming gang leader gets 22 years

The jailed leader of a Rochdale sex ring has received a further term of 22 years for 30 child rape charges.

Shabir Ahmed, 59, of Oldham, was one of nine men convicted of sex offences against children at Liverpool Crown Court in May.

He was not named at the time because he faced further charges, but was jailed for 19 years.

Ahmed was convicted at Manchester Crown Court in June of raping and sexually abusing a girl for more than a decade.

His sentence will run concurrently with the earlier one.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar was forced to have Ahmed removed from the dock before passing sentence because he was persistently interrupted by the defendant.

Before his ejection, Ahmed shouted: "It's all lies. It's all concocted by the police."

He then looked over at journalists covering the case and shouted: "What are you looking at?"

The jury was told that Ahmed, of Windsor Road, had treated his victim as a "possession" using her for his own sexual gratification and that the girl had been abused on "an almost weekly basis".

Ahmed was one of the nine men from Rochdale and Oldham who were found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants in the Heywood area of Rochdale.

He was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of two rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Speaking after the verdict in June, Det Ch Supt Mary Doyle said Ahmed's victim had "shown phenomenal bravery to come forward".

"We already knew Ahmed was an integral part of the Rochdale grooming case - now we can also say his horrific campaign of abuse began many years ago with the systematic rape of this one victim," she added.