The Transcripts

This Rotherham grooming gang case involved six men - Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, Nabeel Khurshid, Iqlak Yousef, Tanweer Ali, Salah Ahmed El-Hakam, and Asif Ali - who sexually exploited five vulnerable girls between 1998 and 2005. The victims included two sisters who had been abandoned by both parents and lived with their grandfather, having already been corrupted and exploited by multiple men from ages 11-13 before encountering the defendants. Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar acted as a ring-leader who would befriend young girls and introduce them to his friends for sexual exploitation - he systematically abused all three main complainants, raping them, forcing oral sex, threatening to abandon them in remote locations, and actively facilitating their abuse by other men. Nabeel Khurshid was described as "the bully, the nasty one" whom others would threaten victims with if they didn't comply, and he participated in a planned group rape at Sherwood Forest that left one victim pregnant and forced into a traumatic termination. Iqlak Yousef was the "quiet one" who worked with Akhtar and Khurshid to ply victims with drugs and alcohol before raping them, also participating in the Sherwood Forest attack. The other defendants similarly exploited multiple victims who had been groomed to believe abusive behavior was normal and had no sense of how to protect themselves. All five complainants showed extraordinary bravery in coming forward years later to give evidence, with the judge noting they suffered severe psychological harm that continues to affect their lives, relationships, and mental health.