3 October 2025
Seven men from Bradford who groomed and sexually abused a vulnerable girl have been jailed.
The sentencing follows the jailing of Raja Zulqurnean for 18 years in May, although his term was subsequently increased to 23 years by the Court of Appeal.
The seven other men were convicted following trials at Bradford Crown Court and were sentenced at the same court earlier.
The victim, who has a right to anonymity, was sexually abused from the age of 13 and that continued when she was in a Bradford children’s home early 2000s.
The jury was told Zulqurnean had “married” the victim when she was aged 15 in the early 2000s and the “wedding” was attended by the girl’s key social worker despite care home staff fearing that she was being exploited.
Prosecutor Kama Melly KC told the court that the victim would be taken to properties in the city where she would be abused.
She would also be taken to secluded areas such as alleyways, industrial estates and parks and given alcohol.
Ms Melly told the court that the victim has chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and high levels of anxiety as a result of the abuse she endured.
The victim addressed her abusers in a statement that was read out in court by the prosecutor.
She said she had been “exploited for your sexual gratification” and that “your actions have had far, far reaching consequences”.
“You didn’t just take my childhood, you destroyed it.”
The victim added: “You are all predators and it is with deep sorrow and anger that I reflect that West Yorkshire Police failed to adequately address our plight for so long.”
She said: “I don’t know how I have survived the trauma of the past six years,” adding that she had considered taking her own life.
- Raja Zulqurnean 23 years – ringleader
- 2019 Bradford grooming gang member Basharat Khaliq, 38, of Deanwood Crescent, Allerton, Bradford BD15 9 also known as ‘Bash’, was found guilty of five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration was severed 20 years for his own personal pleasure.
- 2025 Bradford Grooming gang member Basharat Khaliq, 45, was convicted of three counts of rape and four of indecent assault and was sentenced to 21 years in jail
- Mohammed Shezhad Hussain, 39, of Keighley, was found guilty of two rapes and three counts of indecent assault and was jailed for 12 years
- Mohammed Imran Akram, 43, of Bradford, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and was jailed for eight and a half years
- Safraz Ahmed Latif, 40, of Bradford, was found guilty of four indecent assaults and jailed for seven years
- Wajid Hussain, 42, of Bradford, was found guilty of indecent assault and jailed for six and a half years
- Mohammed Nadeem, 39, of Bradford, was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and jailed for six and a half years
- Nadeem Ali, 39, of Bradford, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and two counts of perverting the course of justice and jailed for six and a half years
- Osman Awan, Sentenced on February 10, 2026, at Bradford Crown Court to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of indecent assault against the girl during 2002-2004. He also admitted to unrelated offenses including harassment, modern slavery, and blackmail. This makes him the NINTH man convicted in this specific Bradford child exploitation investigation.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ykggylp76o
Sentencing the men, Judge Nadim said: “You have contributed to inflicting profound and sustained sexual harm on a child.
“You deliberately chose to prey upon and exploit a vulnerable girl. She was neglected, vulnerable and desperate for care and affection.
“Each of you weaponised her needs for your own sexual gratification.
“The systems that were meant to protect her – parents, social services and police – failed her to different degrees.
“The debt owed by society to her for her courage is enormous.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly7pj86x8ro
2 October 2025
Raja Zulqurnean 2025 Bradford grooming gang ringleader 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.
‘Institutional scandal’
The victim told the BBC: “This was far more than a grooming case. This was an institutional scandal and no one cared for my wellbeing.
“I was married to an abuser. How could a child marry? Social services enabled it,” she said.
The BBC understands the victim’s former key social worker Anwar Meah was questioned by police on suspicion of malfeasance in public office, but no further action was taken and he provided no further comment to the BBC.
The woman contacted the BBC in 2019 about her experiences of being sexually exploited after seeing one of her other abusers, Basharat Khaliq, in a BBC Look North news report about child sexual exploitation.
Khaliq, 44, who was already in prison for 20 years for sexual offences (2019 Bradford Grooming Gang Member) at the time of the report, was found guilty at Bradford Crown Court in June this year of her rape and indecent assault and is awaiting sentence.
In care documents seen by the BBC social workers at the children’s home recorded that the victim “was going out with Asian men late at night and not reporting to staff about where she had been”.
The woman told the BBC: “I was on a care order but I wasn’t protected at all, and the systems that were meant to protect me enabled my abuse.”
Police records showed the victim went missing 101 times between 2002 and 2004.
A social worker told the court that men in up to 10 cars a night were seen arriving at the children’s home and vehicle registration plates were passed to police weekly.
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In July 2025, the prime minister announced there would be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales.
Sir Keir Starmer said he had accepted the recommendations of an audit by Baroness Louise Casey into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.
The inquiry is expected to include new local investigations which will have the power to compel evidence to be given and witnesses to appear.