girls in Rotherham were ‘taken from care homes and repeatedly raped by groups of Asian men after being lured into prostitution by gang including two women’

• Seven defendants accused of playing role in sexual exploitation of children
• The five men and two women face 63 charges involving 12 alleged victims
• Arshid Hussain, 40, known as Mad Ash, alleged to have played key role
• Charges - spanning ten years - include rape, false imprisonment and ABH

A gang allegedly spent more than ten years targeting and sexualising teenage girls in Rotherham before subjecting them to acts of a degrading and violent nature, a court has heard. 

The five men are accused of raping and sexually abusing 12 young girls during the 1980s, some of whom were allegedly raped up to three times per day while under the local authority's care.

It is alleged that two women, who are also standing trial, would give the girls shelter and ply them with alcohol before offering them up to the men at a brothel-like house, where one alleged victim claims she saw 'a politician or MP'. 

Many of the girls targeted came from troubled homes or lived in children's homes and several became pregnant as a result of the sexual exploitation, the court was told.  

One was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, was tied up and raped repeatedly from a very young age. She claims staff at the children's home would turn a blind eye when she returned in a 'bloodied state'.

+6

Five men and two women have gone on trial accused of roles in the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham over a period of more than 10 years. One of the accused if Majid Bostan (pictured arriving at court)

+6

+6

The charges involve 12 alleged victims. Pictured: Sajid Bostan (left), 38, and Qurban Ali (right), 53 - both of whom face a string of charges - arriving at court

Another alleged victim was found with STIs and nits after being allegedly locked up at a restaurant in Blackpool for weeks on end. 

Opening the case today, Michelle Colborne said: 'It is alleged that in differing ways they facilitated the sexual abuse of teenage girls.

'You will hear evidence from 12 women who were targeted, sexualised and in some instances subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature.' 

  

She also told the court how one of the alleged victims recognised 'an MP or councillor' at a house where she was made to have sex with several men while high on drugs.

 The girl, who is now 33, was taken to a house iwhen she was between 17 and 19 years old.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the court: 'One man she recognised as either an MP or councillor from Rotherham. He was related to the defendants, she believed.

'She recalls waking up in a room naked, not knowing how she had gotten there and noting that there were used condoms in the room.' 

One of the defendants said to have played a key role is Arshid Hussain, now 40 - known as Mad Ash - who allegedly used the teenagers for his own gratification, before prostituting them to men whom he owed money.

Ms Colborne QC told Sheffield Crown Court: 'He was domineering and, in some instances, brutal in his treatment of girls.

'He used them for his own gratification, then often prostituted them or passed them on to his brothers or associates of his.

'He was assisted in differing ways by the other defendants, each willingly engaged in exploitative behaviour and using the girls to their own ends.'

Hussain is standing trial alongside Qurban Ali, 53, Majid Bostan, 37, Sajid Bostan, 38, Basharat Hussain, 39, Karen MacGregor, 58, and Shelley Davies, 40. 

They deny a total of 63 charges between them.  

Ms Colborne said the first alleged victim, who is now 43, was befriended by the two women defendants - Davies and MacGregor - in the late 1980s.

The prosecutor said that one night she passed out in MacGregor's house after drinking vodka with a group of about six men.

She said the girl woke up to find herself being sexually assaulted by an unknown man.

 She said she shouted for help but no-one came.

+6

+6

Shelley Davies (left), 40 and Karen MacGregor, 58 (right) also from Rotherham, deny one count of conspiracy to procure a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute, false imprisonment and conspiracy to rape

Ms Colborne said: '(She) was plied with vodka to a point where she was incapacitated and taken upstairs by Karen MacGregor with the intention that the unidentified male would have sexual intercourse with her.'

Ms Colborne told the jury how this girl stayed at MacGregor's house for a number of weeks and 'she wasn't permitted to leave'. 

During this time Asian men were brought to the house and she was told to have sex with them in exchange for being looked after, it is alleged. 

This alleged abuse went on for some six weeks and the girl was allegedly beaten after she was caught by McGregor trying to escape through a window.  

Ms Colborne told the jury of six men and six women: 'Was Karen MacGregor a kind and generous member of society, allowing vulnerable teenage girls to stay at her home out of the goodness of her heart, or was there some motive behind it all?

 She was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, she was tied up, she was raped from a very young age, often by numerous men

 Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC

'The prosecution say she deliberately set out to make girls available for sexual encounters with older men.'   

She left Rotherham aged 17, but returned around three years later.

She told the jury how, after she returned, she was raped in a pub by Arshid Hussain as Sajid Bostan held her legs and tied them in a sheet.

'When he was finished he spat at her and told Saj that he could "have her",' the prosecutor said.

'She repeatedly asked them to stop and Ash told her not to waste his time.' 

She fell pregnant as a result of that attack and gave birth to a son.  

The second alleged victim, who is now 36, was subjected to regular sex attacks by Arshid Hussain who passed her round to other men when she was in the care of the local authority, Ms Colborne said. 

Ms Colborne said she had to have sex with different Asian men on a daily basis before she was 16, sometimes up to three times a day. 

The court heard Arshid Hussain passed her to his brother and friends and, over time, gave her as a payment to men for debts he owed.   

Although he started out as being friendly towards her, he would drag her into the churchyard where he would subject her to repeated abuse. 

Miss Colborne said: 'He passed her to his brother and friends, and over time gave her a payment to men for debts he owed.

'She was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, she was tied up, she was raped from a very young age, often by numerous men, one after the other, at the say-so of Arshid Hussain.'

'Arshid Hussain would put pressure on her to do it and leave her with no choice - if she loved him, she would do it, if she didn't then he would hurt her. 

The prosecutor told the jury that his exploitation was 'violent and protracted'.

'Initially she attempted to say no but was always beaten if she refused and quickly learned to give in to his demands,' she said.

'Her recollection is that the violence became a regular thing when she lived at the children's home and seemingly no one was interested in whether she returned in a bloodied state.'  

  

Another night, while still in the care of the local authority, she was allegedly bundled into the boot of a car by Arshid Hussain and two other men and was drive down to London where Arshid forced her to have sex with two men who he said he 'owed' and couldn't pay.

Miss Colborne said: 'Eventually she was moved to a different children's home. 

The abuse continued because they persisted in locating her.

'At time she told the staff what was happening to her, but they accused her of covering up for running away.' 

 Her recollection is that the violence became a regular thing when she lived at the children's home and seemingly no one was interested in whether she returned in a bloodied state

Prosecutor Ms Colborne  

Arshid Hussain allegedly also made another girl - who he had sex with when she was around 14 after picking up from a children's 'pop and crisp' night - pregnant after coercing her to have sex with him three or four times a week.

She was allegedly persuaded to have an abortion by Arshid's brother, who told her Arshid had already father children with seven 'English' women already.

The court heard, another girl exploited by Basharat Hussain, was driven to Blackpool, where she was allegedly locked in a restaurant for weeks and was told by two friends of Hussain's that she would have to 'pay her way'.

Miss Colborne said: 'She summonded the courage to confide in a couple who ran a business across the road and she was helped by a charity called Risky Business.

 When she returned to Rotherham she had STIs and nits.'

Sheffield Crown Court also heard another girl, who had been abused by various step fathers since the age of seven, was also allegedly prayed upon by Arshid and Basharat Hussain and their other brother.

At the age of 14 she was allegedly ordered to perform oral sex on Arshid Hussain.

Miss Colborne said: 'He forced her to her knees, called her a white bitch and trash.

 He told her that Asian women didn't perform oral sex as it was against their religion.'

The girl and her sister were allegedly forced to work as prostitutes by Arshid and Basharat Hussain and were taken to Sheffield and told to have sex with me in cars and alleyways for money.

The Hussain brothers also allegedly forced their victims to look after drugs and guns for them, threatening them with violence if they didn't comply.

Basharat allegedly took one girl home and after threatening to burn her house down told her to watch the derelict house across the road that night.

He then allegedly arranged for the house over the road to be burned down and told the girl she must now do as he told her.

When she was 19, the girl allegedly became pregnant with Basharat's child, but she had it aborted.  

Arshid Hussain, 40, from East Cowick, Goole, denies one count of conspiracy to rape, 11 indecent assaults, five rapes, one other serious sexual assault and one count of procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sex with another.

He also denies one count of false imprisonment, two counts of procuring a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute and one count of attempting to procure a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse.

He faces two counts of abducting a 15-year-old girl, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of aiding and abetting rape and one of aiding and abetting another serious sexual assault.

Qurban Ali, 53, from Masborough, Rotherham, denies one count each of indecent assault, rape, procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse with another and conspiracy to rape.

Majid Bostan, 37, from Broom, Rotherham, denies one indecent assault.

Sajid Bostan, 38, also from Broom, Rotherham, denies three rapes, two counts of aiding and abetting rape, one indecent assault and one other serious sexual assault.

Basharat Hussain, 39, of no fixed abode, denies one rape, five indecent assaults, one count of procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse with another and false imprisonment.

He also faces three counts of indecency with a child, one count of procuring a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute, two assaults occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of making threats to kill.

Karen MacGregor, 58, from Wath, South Yorkshire, denies one count of conspiracy to procure a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute, false imprisonment and and two counts of conspiracy to rape.

Shelley Davies, 40, also from Rotherham, denies one count of conspiracy to procure a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute, false imprisonment and conspiracy to rape.

The trial continues.