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Oxford grooming sex case: Brothers jailed for life | Oxford grooming sex case: Brothers jailed for life |
(35 minutes later) | |
Two pairs of brothers who were among seven men who abused girls from Oxford in a sadistic sex grooming ring have been jailed for life. | |
Mohammed Karrar, 38, and brother Bassam Karrar, 34, will serve a minimum of 20 years and 15 years respectively. | |
Brothers Akhtar Doghar, 32, and Anjum Doghar, 31, were each jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years. | |
They were jailed for offences including child rape and trafficking between 2004 and 2012. | |
A fifth man, Kamar Jamil, 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years after being found guilty of charges including rape and arranging child prostitution. | |
Jurors heard at the men's trial at the Old Bailey how six girls, aged at the time between 11 and 15, were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to perform sex acts. | |
Some were beaten and burned. | |
The court heard how the men identified vulnerable girls for abuse and then groomed each one of them until they were under the control of the gang. | |
They were then each either abused by the men themselves, given to the men's friends or offered at a price to others who were not on trial. | |
'Enormous courage' | |
The girls were mostly chosen because their unsettled or troubled lives made them easier to manipulate. | |
The men identified vulnerable girls and then groomed them individually until they were under the control of the gang. | |
The abuse started in Oxford but some victims were later taken to other parts of the country to be offered to other men who were in contact with the gang. | |
The court heard the victims were tied up, burnt, suffocated, beaten and urinated upon, and would return to Oxford bleeding, injured and carrying sexually-transmitted infections. | |
Judge Peter Rook, sentencing, praised the courage of the six victims in coming forward, saying the men had blighted the victims' lives and robbed them of their adolescence. | |
He said: "These six girls have shown enormous courage in coming to the Old Bailey to give evidence, knowing they would be accused of lying, knowing they would have to relive their ordeals, knowing they have not been believed in the past." | |
Judge Rook said he hoped the victims' courage would act as a deterrent to other men but also ensure the appropriate authorities would not fail in future to take action in the face of such activity. | |
'Sheer torture' | |
Two more defendants, Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, were each jailed for seven years for two counts of sexual activity with a child. | |
Talking about the abuse suffered by one of the victims, Judge Rook told Jamil and the Dogar brothers, who were convicted of abusing her: "You took her soul. She felt as though it had been ripped out. You put her parents through years of sheer torture." | |
In total nine men had denied charges including rape, arranging child prostitution and trafficking between 2004 and 2012. Two were acquitted of all charges. | |
Numerous opportunities to catch members of the gang are believed to have been missed and prosecutors, the police and social services have apologised for any failings. |