- Men
from Birmingham are Omar Ahmed, 27, Sajid Hussain, 40, Mohammed Anjam,
31, Naseem Khan, 30, Mohammed Javed, 33, and Alam Shah, 36
- They have been banned from approaching any girl under the age of 18
- High Court heard how three of them found in hotel with girl in care, 17
- Landmark ruling is despite police not having enough evidence to convict
Published:
18:07 GMT, 19 November 2014
|
Updated:
06:37 GMT, 20 November 2014
Police
tried to keep the identities of an Asian sex grooming gang secret –
claiming that naming them could breach their human rights.
In
an unprecedented move, the men have been banned from contacting
children after they were found to be grooming a vulnerable girl, luring
the 17-year-old into cars and hotel rooms.
A judge said he was sure they were engaged in sexual exploitation and said their excuses were lies and ‘nonsense’.
Scroll down for video
+9
From left to right: Naseem Khan, Mohammed Javed and Allam Shah pictured outside London's High Court
+9
+9
The men were barred from contacting underage girls in a landmark anti-exploitation case in Birmingham
However
police asked for an anonymity order to honour their ‘duty of care’ to
the abusers and their human rights, including the right to family life.
A
lawyer for West Midlands Police said the men – some of whom had
criminal records, one for a sex offence – could be attacked by
vigilantes.
Judge
Michael Keehan was even told the gang might target the family of their
victim if they felt ‘aggrieved at their identities being revealed’.
Insisting that justice had to be open, he dismissed these claims and ordered that the men be named.
The judge pointed out that it was the men’s ‘own reprehensible conduct which has put them into this position’.
‘This case involves the alleged sexual exploitation of a young person by a number of men considerably older than her,’ he added.
‘There
is a high public interest in the public having the right to know what
has happened in this case, and what steps the court has taken to afford
protection to the young person involved – and other young people in the
locality.’
The
men – Mohammed Anjam, 31, Omar Ahmed, 27, Naseem Khan, 29, Mohammed
Javed, 34, Alam Shah, 37, and Sajid Hussein, 40 – can be jailed if they
breach the injunction granted by Judge Keehan barring them from
approaching any girls in public.
+9
+9
All six men were hit with injunctions after applications by Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police
+9
Landmark ruling: The names of the six men were released today at the Royal Courts of Justice in London
VICTIMS TOO SCARED TO GIVE EVIDENCE AGAINST THE MEN IN COURT
The
six Birmingham men appear to have escaped prosecution because the
police could not persuade girls who may have been victims to give
evidence against them in court.
Lorna
Meyer QC, appearing for the council, told the judge: ‘It can be
difficult to empower the victims to come forward and give evidence
against the perpetrators of the exploitation. This case does not rely
upon the victim to give evidence.’
Victims may have been unwilling to give evidence or regarded as unable to withstand hostile cross-examination by lawyers.
In
a criminal trial, guilt must be proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. In a
serious case of this nature, the charges would have to be proved not to a
Crown Court jury whose members could not be assumed to be sympathetic
to the prosecution.
The
police do not appear to have had enough faith in their case to have
asked for a decision from the CPS. CPS rules say prosecutions will be
brought if there is a 50:50 or better chance of securing a conviction,
and if prosecution is thought to be in the public interest.
In
the Birmingham case, there is little doubt prosecution would be in the
public interest. So police must have believed they had too little
evidence.
In
the civil case brought by the council, the standard of proof required
to persuade a judge to issue an injunction was less than that needed for
a criminal conviction. In civil cases judges decide only on ‘the
balance of probabilities.’
Three
of them were caught red-handed ‘sexually exploiting’ the vulnerable
teenager in a hotel room. Two more were caught as they apparently plied
her with vodka in their car late at night.
The
injunction was requested by Birmingham City Council, which is trying to
extend it to four more men. Police said there was too little evidence
for a prosecution.
Tory
MP Philip Davies said: ‘There should be open justice and if people are
thought to be a danger to children then the public have a right to know
about it. If we are going to protect children, then we need to know who
is a threat.
‘It
is the job of the police to make sure there is law and order. If anyone
or any group try to do anything against these two men that it is the
job of the police to deal with it.
+9
Named and shamed: Mr Justice Keehan ruled the public had the right to know the six men's names
‘You can’t run a justice system on the basis that you can’t name anybody because somebody might pick on them.’
John
Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley and a campaigner
against secret courts, said: ‘It is shocking that the police would ask
for the name of somebody who is a threat to young people to be a state
secret.’
The NSPCC backed the council’s approach.
The
case comes amid mounting national concern about the gangs of largely
Asian men grooming and abusing hundreds of vulnerable girls. The judge
was told how in August Javed, Khan and Shah had been caught by police in
a hotel room with the girl.
On
another occasion, last month, police saw the teenager getting out of a
Nissan Micra containing Anjam and Ahmed in the early hours. In each
case, the judge rejected explanations given by the men for their
behaviour.
But
in a hearing to establish whether the men should be named, West
Midlands Police produced a lengthy ‘risk assessment’ claiming that the
abusers could be at risk of revenge attacks from groups such as the
English Defence League – despite the lack of any supporting evidence.
Police
said: ‘There is a duty of care to the ten men and their families in
respect the Human Rights Act – Article 8, right to family life and home,
and Article 2, right to life. Consideration must be given to the
enhanced risk and harm allegations of sexual conduct with vulnerable
persons can create both to the men and their families.’
Anjam and Ahmad have been told to give £2,000 toward the council’s legal costs in the case. The pair claim they cannot pay.
The
judge granted permanent injunctions barring the men from contacting,
approaching or following the girl and from approaching ‘any female under
the age of 18 years, not previously associated with him, on a public
highway, common land, wasteland, parkland, playing field, public
transport stop or station.’
Runaway teenage girl who triggered case.
Police
were called in by social workers after the girl at the centre of the
latest grooming case kept running away from local authority care.
Officers began using covert surveillance to identify her suspected abusers.
Between
July 2010 and September 2013 the girl was recorded going missing 103
times and was still being found drunk in the early hours in Birmingham
as recently as last month.
Police
swiftly identified ten men from the south of the city and observed them
in a string of worrying situations with the 17-year-old.
The
mother of the girl said her daughter’s life began to spiral out of
control when she joined a secondary school and began fraternising with
other children in the care system.
She
said: ‘They should be locking these men up, not my daughter. It just
makes their job easier because she’s locked up in a secure unit so
there’s no paperwork and they don’t have to come out for her.
‘These
men have ruined her chances in life. They are out there doing whatever
they want to do. But then the social services should have done more
too.’
Alam Shah, 37 and unemployed, was one of the three men caught in an Ibis hotel room with the girl in August.
+9
West Midlands Police (pictured) tried to protect the identities of the six men to honour their ‘duty of care’
His
registered address is a red brick terraced home in Small Heath, owned
by his father, Abu Zafar and stepmother. Mr Zafar said: ‘He came to stay
three or four months ago after being kicked out by his wife but left
about three weeks ago and he hasn’t been in touch.
‘He’s
married with two children – a boy who is 12 and an eight-year-old girl.
He isn’t interested in young girls, he isn’t like that.’
Mohammed
Javed, 34, was also found with the girl at the hotel. He claimed he had
met her at a petrol station and paid for a room at the hotel for her
because she did not want to go home.
He then called Shah and Naseem Khan, 29, claiming he was drunk and needed a lift, an explanation dismissed by the judge.
Neighbours
described him as a mechanic who was married with three children.
Occupants refused to answer the door of his end-of-terrace home in
Tyseley, Birmingham, and shouted for our reporter to go away.
Omar
Ahmed, 27, was seen with Mohammed Anjam, 31, dropping the drunken
17-year-old off in Birmingham at 3am. A half-empty bottle of vodka was
found in the car when it was stopped.
Ahmed
lives next door to a medical centre in Yardley, Birmingham and lost his
delivery job when his car was seized in relation to the case. Police
claimed he would be at risk of suicide if he was named and shamed.
Sajid Hussein, 40, is the eldest of the gang. Staff in his newsagent’s declined to comment.
Khan lives in a large mid-terrace home in Bordesley Green, Birmingham. His sister said he had gone away.
COUNCIL: THIS IS AN INNOVATIVE NEW WAY TO STOP GROOMING
After
the hearing, Peter Hay, Director of People at Birmingham City Council,
said: 'Although there is not enough evidence for a criminal conviction
at present, we do have enough information to obtain injunctions - these
use a lower evidence threshold and the balance of probability.
'This is a ground-breaking approach, finding new ways to protect victims.
'We have to recognise that previous ways of dealing with this have not always worked.
'Too
often the victim has not seen herself as a victim so it has been
difficult to use the conventional criminal prosecution route.
+9
Safeguarding: A lawyer representing
Birmingham City Council (pictured) told Mr Justice Keehan how bosses had
launched civil court proceedings against a number of men with the aim
of protecting the young
'Because
perpetrators befriend their victims and make them feel special it is
therefore harder to gather concrete evidence to use against them.
'We have used intelligence gathered by both agencies as well as evidence of perpetrators' criminal activities.
'This
doesn't replace the criminal process but it is about finding
complementary ways of working together to do all we can to safeguard
vulnerable children.
'The young woman in question comes from a large family and has been known to Birmingham social services for a number of years.
'She is a bright young woman who cares deeply about her family, especially her siblings.
'We strongly believe that she is being consistently sexually exploited and has been since her early teenage years.
'Every
time she goes missing a police investigation is launched. She has been
found in hotel rooms with men in states of undress and in a state of
intoxication, despite lack of funds.
'Despite
many attempts to work with her to understand the risks she was placing
herself in, she continued to have contact with these men.
'She is now safe, in secure accommodation for her own protection.'
No comments:
Post a Comment