Image Source: Al Jazeera
A court in Manchester, United Kingdom, has sentenced seven men to lengthy prison terms for the sexual grooming – systematic sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006. The sentencing, delivered on 2 October 2025, marks a significant development in a series of historical child sexual exploitation cases that have plagued the area.
The ringleader, 65-year-old market trader Mohammed Zahid, received the longest sentence of 35 years after being convicted on multiple counts of rape and other sexual offences. The six other convicted men, aged between 39 and 67, were given minimum prison terms ranging from 12 years. The verdict followed a four-month trial that concluded in June.
The court heard that the two victims, who were both 13 years old when the abuse began and did not know each other, were targeted due to their troubled family backgrounds. The perpetrators used a grooming process, luring the girls with gifts, money, and offers of shelter. The abuse escalated as the girls were transported to various locations in Rochdale, plied with alcohol and drugs, and then sexually assaulted by multiple members of the group.
During the three-day sentencing hearing, both victims provided impact statements detailing the profound and lasting damage caused by the abuse. One woman described how the experience had affected every facet of her life, including her physical and mental health and her ability to form relationships. The other victim stated that the abuse had led her to believe, at the time, that all men would expect sex from her, and she courageously urged other survivors to come forward no matter how much time had passed.
This case is part of a wider pattern of historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale that first came to significant public attention in the early 2010s. Authorities, including the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and local council, have since acknowledged major failures in protecting the victims. In April 2022, GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson issued a public apology, admitting the force had been borderline incompetent in its handling of the issue. A government-commissioned report that same year concluded that authorities had failed to act despite warnings and had downplayed the ethnic dimensions of the exploitation.
Estimates from a 2014 report suggested that at least 1,400 children may have been exploited in such cases in Rochdale, with perpetrators primarily identified as being of Pakistani heritage. This aspect has often been central to the toxic public discourse surrounding these crimes, with far-right elements using it to demonize British Asian and Muslim communities.
The issue regained prominence in the UK earlier in 2025 when US tech billionaire Elon Musk used his platform, X, to accuse Prime Minister Keir Starmer of complicity due to his former role as head of the Crown Prosecution Service. The government rejected these allegations. The case was also leveraged by far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, who received backing from Musk for his campaigns blaming the UK’s Muslim community and alleging a government cover-up.
Calls for a new national inquiry into so-called “grooming gangs” grew, leading Prime Minister Starmer to reverse his initial position and support such an investigation, stating it would help restore public confidence in the authorities.
A preliminary report released in June 2025 by Baroness Louise Casey highlighted the poor quality of data on the issue, making it difficult to determine if any ethnic group was overrepresented. The report noted that while data on child exploitation suspects shows a disproportion of Asian heritage individuals, data for overall child abuse does not, with white men being the predominant offenders.
Following the report’s findings, the then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated the government had accepted its recommendations, which included strengthening rape laws and enhancing child protection measures. She emphasized in the House of Commons that while more robust data is needed, the findings must not be ignored, as failing to expose these issues allows the crimes of a minority to be used to marginalize entire communities.
(With inputs from Al Jazeera)
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