Rochdale sentencing LIVE: Gang leader who groomed and raped 2 girls jailed for 35 years

A market stallholder who groomed and raped two white schoolgirls in Rochdale has been jailed for 35 years. In total, seven men convicted of grooming and raping two vulnerable schoolgirls in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006 are being sentenced today at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. The group consists of Zahid, 65; fellow traders Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and fugitive Kasir Bashir, 50; taxi drivers Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, and Nisar Hussain, 41; and Roheez Khan, 39.

Central to proceedings was evidence against Zahid-known as 'Boss Man'-who brazenly collected one victim from her care home and felt "almost untouchable" after authorities repeatedly ignored pleas for help, including labelling a 10-year-old as a "prostitute". Victims delivered powerful impact statements, detailing lives "destroyed" and "put on hold" for two decades, while social services and police issued fresh apologies for past failings. The unanimous guilty verdicts in June covered 50 offences, building on Zahid's prior five-year jail term for similar abuse. Bashir, who fled before trial, faces sentencing in absentia, as the court weighs proportionate terms that reflect the profound trauma inflicted on the girls.

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