NewsBeat
Two teenage girls plied with alcohol, drugs and repeatedly raped by ‘group of men in Rochdale’
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
A group of men subjected two young girls to “appalling” sexual exploitation over the course of several years in Greater Manchester, which saw them plied with alcohol and drugs and repeatedly raped, a court has heard.
Both struggling with difficult upbringings, they were allegedly targeted by the group and became “beholden” to them, before being forced to carry out sex acts.
Jurors heard that the two girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were known to the authorities, with poor school attendance and both regularly going missing from home.
As a result, the court was told the young teenagers, aged just 13 at the time, would often hang around with older Asian men at various parks, a snooker hall or at Rochdale market, where they first encountered one of the defendants, Mohammed Zahid, 64, who operated a stall.
Known as Bossman, he had been in his forties when jurors were told he started to give the girls free underwear and money for food before introducing them to his friends.
“Through no fault of their own, their troubled backgrounds made them susceptible to the advances of these men, and others who behaved just like them,” prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC said.
Over time, jurors heard that they were made to feel “like grown-ups” and were allegedly plied with alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and places to stay, with the defendants accused of providing them with attention “they so desperately craved”.
“These men preyed upon these vulnerabilities for their own perverted sexual gratification, in the most humiliating and degrading way imaginable,” the prosecutor said.
However, in return, the defendants allegedly forced the two girls to perform oral and penetrative sex with multiple men, often in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.
The court heard that unprotected sex was routine, and the girls were told it was “forbidden for Muslim men to use protection”.
Mr Scamardella KC described them as “sex slaves”, and claimed they were threatened with humiliating footage, verbally abused and expected to answer calls at all times of the day from the men involved.
“Both girls were well known to social services and other agencies, and it was no secret that both girls were having sex with older Asian men,” he said.
“No reports were made to the police and nothing was done. No action was taken to stop what was happening to these two girls or to stop other similarly vulnerable girls suffering the same fate.”
After an investigation began into child sexual exploitation in the Rochdale area in 2010, one of the claimants was approached as a potential victim but declined to get involved. She later contacted Greater Manchester Police in 2015 with the second woman also agreeing to take part in the investigation.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard child sexual exploitation is often underlined by an “imbalance of power”, with young vulnerable victims often feeling ashamed and embarrassed which leads them to continue visiting their abusers.
“These men often have apparent wealth, businesses, nice clothes and flashy cars, and when pitched against vulnerable young girls often starved of affection, money and nice things, that imbalance of power is ruthlessly exploited for depraved sexual gratification,” Mr Scamardella KC said.
He added that Rochdale and other areas of Greater Manchester had been “blighted” by this type of exploitation, with seven major police operations in recent years.
The alleged sexual offences, said to be committed between 2001 and 2006, include multiple counts of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child.
The eight defendants have denied all the charges.
They are: Mohammed Zahid, 64, of Station Road, Crumpsall, Manchester; Naheem Akram, 48, of Manley, Road, Rochdale; Mohammed Shazad, 43, of Beswicke Royds Street, Rochdale; Nisar Hussain, 43, of Newfield Close, Rochdale; Roheez Khan, 39, of Athole Street, Rochdale; Arfan Khan, 40, of Grouse Street, Rochdale; Mushtaq Ahmed, 66, of Corona Avenue, Oldham; and Kasir Bashir, 50, of Napier Street East, Oldham.
If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call Childline free of charge on 0800 1111. You can also call the NSPCC if you are an adult and you are worried about a child, on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331.
NewsBeat
Judi Dench says she can no longer leave home alone due to deteriorating eyesight | Ents & Arts News
Dame Judi Dench has revealed she can no longer leave her house alone due to her deteriorating eyesight.
The 90-year-old actress has macular degeneration, a condition which leads to a gradual loss of vision.
In a new interview on Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, Dame Judi says “somebody will always be with me” when she leaves the house.
“I have to [have someone] now because I can’t see,” she continues. “And I will walk into something or fall over.”
Reflecting on how she used to feel about attending events alone, Dame Judi said she was “no good at that at all”.
“And fortunately, I don’t have to be [alone] now because I pretend now to have no eyesight,” she laughs.
In July 2023, Dame Judi said she was determined to work “as much as I can” despite her health issues.
“I mean, I can’t see on a film set anymore,” she told The Mirror’s Notebook magazine. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.”
Dame Judi with her daughter Finty Williams. Pic: PA
Dame Judi’s acting career began in the 1950s when she made her stage debut in a production of Hamlet at London’s Old Vic theatre.
In the decades since, she’s conquered the worlds of TV and film, winning an Oscar for her role in the 1998 movie Shakespeare In Love and, more recently, playing the head of MI6, M, alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond.
More entertainment news:
Sting cancels shows on doctor’s advice
The Brutalist director defends using AI
Dame Judi has also cemented herself as one of the UK’s best stage actresses, winning a string of Olivier awards for starring roles in plays including The Winter’s Tale and Macbeth.
Her most recent screen credit was in 2022, for a small role in Christmas film Spirited. She has continued to make public appearances and last October, she was a speaker at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.
Politics
Keir Starmer’s decision to blame Amazon for Axel Rudakubana failings is ‘puzzling’, Mendoza claims
The head of a leading think tank has accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of going down a “bizarre rabbit hole” of blame in his response to the Southport attack case.
Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, told GB News he was “puzzled” by Starmer’s approach to the failings that led to Axel Rudakubana’s deadly rampage.
NewsBeat
Watch outside court as Prince Harry agrees settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
Watch outside of court as Prince Harry today (22 January) agreed a settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
The Duke of Sussex finally agreed to settle his claim against the publishers of The Sun after eleventh-hour talks on the opening day of his trial went late into the night.
Prince Harry’s high-stakes trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but both his and News Group Newspapers (NGN) legal teams made several bids to delay legal proceedings in order to “continue discussions.”
The proceedings were due to begin again at 10am on Wednesday, but the High Court was told the two sides had broken the deadlock with Harry agreeing to drop claims against Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
As the duke’s lawyer David Sherborne told the court an agreement had been reached, he read out an apology issued by NGN to Prince Harry.
The publishers offered “a full and unequivocal apology” to the duke “for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them”.
It added that the Sun and will pay “substantial damages” as the two sides settled their legal claim, Harry’s barrister has told the High Court.
At least 11 people have been killed and five injured after they fled rumours of a fire on board their train in India, only to be hit by another train.
Railway officials said the passengers got down from the Mumbai-bound train in western Maharashtra state after someone pulled the emergency cord, causing it to stop.
They were hit by a train on an adjacent track. It was not immediately clear whether there had actually been a fire.
India has launched a $30bn (£24bn) programme to modernise its railways in recent years but this has been marred by a series of accidents, including a major three-train crash in 2023 in the state of Odisha which left nearly 300 people dead.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a post on X that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives” during the incident near Pachora in Jalgaon district, about 400km from Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
He said eight ambulances had been dispatched and hospitals were on standby.
The crash will be seen as a setback for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has called for modernisation of the railways to boost the economy and connectivity.
There are plans to boost spending on the programme in next month’s budget, Reuters news agency reports.
Politics
Trump’s budget pick is famous for defying Congress. GOP senators want to confirm him anyway.
Senate Republicans are eager to seat the man who could undercut their funding power.
As President Donald Trump boldly defies the will of Congress by issuing executive orders freezing billions of dollars in federal cash that lawmakers have approved in recent years, Senate Republicans are still speaking accolades of Russ Vought, the president’s pick for White House budget director and the man famous for withholding government money during Trump’s first administration.
Key committee chairs are predicting that the Senate will confirm Vought without issue to head the Office of Management and Budget again, even as some GOP senators raise concern about protecting Congress’ “power of the purse” — granted under Article I of the Constitution — from presidential overreach.
“I think all of us are going to vote for you,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham told Vought on Wednesday, as the nominee testified before the South Carolina Republican’s committee in his second public vetting this month.
“Bottom line is, I think you’re qualified for the job. I know why he picked you,” Graham said of Trump’s selection of Vought. “And again, we just had an election. And when you win, you get to pick people. And I’m glad he picked you.”
Loyally confirming Trump’s desired budget director amid the new president’s sweeping funding pause would immediately strengthen the White House’s ability to pick and choose what cash to spend, shirking the spending laws congressional Republicans have voted to enact and calling into question the soundness of any bills they clear in the future.
Notably, Vought would not promise Wednesday to avoid circumventing impoundment law, which is meant to block presidents from withholding money Congress has previously passed through the Congressional appropriations process.
Federal watchdogs concluded that Vought and other Trump administration officials violated impoundment law several times during Trump’s first term, including the freezing of aid to Ukraine that helped fuel Trump’s impeachment in 2019.
But Vought said the executive orders Trump issued within hours of taking office Monday are simply “programmatic delays” or “pauses,” explaining they are meant “to ensure that the funding that is in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on.”
While Vought vowed to “faithfully uphold the law” if confirmed, he noted that Trump disagrees with the Impoundment Control Act enacted more than 50 years ago to insulate the congressional appropriations process from executive branch meddling.
“The president ran on the notion that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. I agree with that,” Vought said, further insisting that “what the president has unveiled already are not impoundments.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the Budget Committee’s top Democrat, told Vought on Wednesday he was “deeply disturbed” with his answers.
“Congress makes the law, not the president,” said Merkley. “The fact that you continue to advocate for this impoundment strategy, that is completely in violation of our Constitution.”
Under the far-reaching orders Trump issued after he was inaugurated on Monday, federal agencies are now being forced to pause funding from Democrats’ signature climate and spending law called the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as from the bipartisan infrastructure package Republicans helped enact in 2021.
Foreign assistance is also on hold for 90 days, including to Ukraine and Israel as the two U.S. allies are in the midst of wars.
Not every Republican is giving Vought a total free pass. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — which also has jurisdiction over the OMB director nomination and held its own confirmation hearing with Vought last week — said he didn’t think a president should have the power to use government funding differently than how lawmakers have dictated in the bills they pass.
“The power of the purse is Congress,” Paul said during that hearing. “I think if we appropriate something for a cause, that’s where it’s supposed to go. And that will still be my position.”
Nonetheless, less than a week later, Paul led Republicans on his committee to approve Vought’s nomination, stating, “There is no doubt he will be swiftly confirmed.”
An SAS veteran has hit out at Labour’s decision to hit grieving families of military workers with inheritance tax from April 2027.
The money given to families of deceased Armed Forces members, called death in service payments, may be subject to a hefty cut after Labour MPs voted in favour of a raid.
Shocking video footage has been released by police of a car being driven at speeds up to 90mph before causing a three-vehicle crash killing a lorry driver.
It’s been three days since President Donald Trump took office. And he has come out swinging.
On the 2024 campaign trail, he promised to bring rapid and sweeping change to American government and society if he were re-elected.
Some of his policies and reforms will take time – and congressional legislation – to enact. Other moves might be blocked by the courts.
In the first days of his presidency, however, Trump has already made waves with dozens of unilateral orders and actions that represent a substantial expansion of White House power.
For many of his supporters – so far – it looks like he has delivered on his promises.
“He signed all the executive orders that he told us he was going to do,” said 68-year-old Rick Frazier, a loyal Trump supporter from Ohio who has attended more than 80 of his rallies. “I’m satisfied with all that.”
That has been cause for concern among some. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, publicly asked Trump during a prayer service on Tuesday at the National Cathedral, to “have mercy upon people in our country who are scared now”.
Nowhere has this display of presidential authority been more prominent than on the topic of immigration, which polls suggest was a significant concern for many voters.
Just hours after taking office, Trump declared an emergency at the US-Mexico border, allowing him to deploy more US military personnel to the area.
He effectively closed the country to all new asylum-seekers and suspended already approved resettlement flights for refugees.
Mr Frazier’s daughter died of a heroin overdose last year. He told the BBC that the southern border was his top issue in the 2024 election.
“In my opinion had the border been closed, my daughter would not have had access to the compound that killed her,” he said.
Trump has also ordered authorities to stop granting automatic citizenship to the children of undocumented migrants born on American soil – setting up a lengthy legal battle over what had previously been viewed by courts as a constitutional guarantee.
One step that Trump repeatedly promised – but has yet to show signs of implementing – is mass deportations of migrants who crossed illegally into the US, something he said would start on day one of his presidency.
While some Trump officials have said the deportation process has begun, there have been no signs yet of the kind of law-enforcement raids or other expansive actions that would be necessary to detain and remove the millions of undocumented migrants who currently reside in the US.
Bryan Lanza, who previously served as a senior adviser to Trump, told the BBC’s Americast podcast that the total number of deportations is less important than the message it sends.
“It’s never about a number,” he said. “It’s more about the PR.”
If you deport a million undocumented migrants, he said, than the rest will start wondering if they’re next – and take steps to return to their home countries.
“Illegals aren’t welcomed here,” he said. “Every other country is allowed to say that. Why shouldn’t we?”
Immigration was a major issue that helped propel Trump to the White House, but in terms of voter concerns it was still dwarfed by worries about the economy and inflation.
So far the president has focused on energy policy – tying it directly to the high prices that millions of Americans have struggled with.
“When energy comes down, the prices of food and the prices of everything else come down,” Trump said on Tuesday evening. “Energy is the big baby.”
To that end, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” and rescinded Biden-era protections for fossil fuel extraction in Alaska and in American coastal waters. He also started the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, which commits nations to slashing emissions to try to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change.
Even optimistic estimates suggest these moves will take time to show any results, but Aziz Wehbey, a Syrian-American Republican voter in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said he was pleased by what he had seen so far.
“That’s a good sign for the economy, and for those of us who run businesses,” he said. “The economy is starting to move and not be frozen. Everyone will notice that.”
One topic that Trump has mentioned, but hasn’t acted on yet, is tariffs. He had pledged to slap them on some of America’s biggest trade partners on day one to protect American industries and generate new revenue to fund his favoured government programmes.
Economists, including some in the Trump administration, have cautioned that tariffs could drive up consumer costs and hurt American businesses that rely on imports in their supply chain. It could be a reason why Trump, with his eye on the stock market and economic growth, is treading more carefully when it comes to trade.
Many of President Trump’s other early executive actions focused on reshaping the vast federal workforce.
He has reinstated rules that allow him to fire senior-level civil servants, suspended new regulations and hiring, and ordered all federal employees involved in DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – programmes to be put on paid leave.
He also renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and instructed the US government to only recognise two sexes, male and female, in all official documents and forms. The changes, while controversial, have also been extremely popular with Trump’s base – a sign that the president will continue to lean in to contentious cultural issues.
Trump’s second term is just getting started. He promises more significant presidential actions in the days ahead – moves that will almost certainly test the limits of presidential power.
But the big splash, the noise, the drama, says former adviser Lanza, isn’t a problem for the president. It’s his strength.
“Where we are in modern politics today, which people haven’t figured out, is that from our standpoint, to communicate to voters are supportive of our issues, controversy enhances the message,” he said.
How do you get your message heard amid the overwhelming din of modern politics?
“It’s the controversy.”
Understand that, and the strategy behind Trump’s frenetic first days in office begins to come into focus.
With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr and Madeline Halpert
South Korea will remove concrete barriers used at airports across the country after a plane crash in December that claimed the lives of 179 people.
Politics
Kemi Badenoch ‘wastes PMQs AGAIN’ after failing to quiz Starmer over Axel Rudakubana murders
Kemi Badenoch has seemingly missed an opportunity to grill Sir Keir Starmer on the failings surrounding Axel Rudakubana’s horrific killings last summer.
The Prime Minister, who vowed not to leave a stone unturned in an inquiry into the Southport murders, might have expected Badenoch to take aim over a number of issues raised by other Conservative colleagues, including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.
But speaking in the House of Commons, Badenoch said: “I also know that the thoughts of many will be with the victims of the Southport killings.
“There are important questions to answer and I will return to those after the case is concluded.”
Badenoch missed an opportunity to grill Starmer on the failings surrounding Axel Rudakubana’s horrific killings last summer
PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV
Badenoch continued by instead opting to quiz Starmer on Labour’s education reforms.
Ahead of the Leader of the Opposition’s first intervention, the Prime Minister also addressed the Southport killings.
He said: “We will change the law so that the most serious offenders attend their sentencing hearings.”
In response to the exchange, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice argued it was “unreal” that Badenoch had not probed Starmer on a topic other than education.
MORE ON KEMI BADENOCH:
Starmer was pressed on Labour’s education reforms rather than the atrocities in Southport
PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV
He said: “Kemi wastes PMQs again. Should have led on Trump and shocking debt figures to challenge Starmer.”
While leader Nigel Farage prodded: “Not a single question on Southport from Kemi Badenoch at PMQs today.
“What is the point of the Tories?”
A friend of Badenoch later told GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope that she raised the economy last week and acknowledged the Southport killer at the top of her contribution to PMQs.
Richard Tice warned that Kemi Badenoch had ‘wasted PMQs again’
PA
While another said there was “genuine anger” from Kemi and the wider party at what Labour is “doing to schools”.
“They’ve put some important stuff on safeguarding in the bill, but the bulk of it is reversing schools freedoms – rolling back academies, giving unions more control over who can be a teacher and reducing curriculum choice.”
Another Badenoch ally came to her defence after PMQs – Tory leadership runner-up Robert Jenrick, who said Sir Keir Starmer “had no answer” to the Leader of the Opposition’s questions – “because there are none”.
11 Best Android Phones of 2025, Tested and Reviewed
Judi Dench says she can no longer leave home alone due to deteriorating eyesight | Ents & Arts News
Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht: 'Why Defend A Murderer?'
-
Fashion8 years agoThese ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2025
-
Entertainment8 years agoThe Season 9 ‘ Game of Thrones’ is here.
-
Fashion8 years ago9 spring/summer 2025 fashion trends to know for next season
-
Entertainment8 years agoThe old and New Edition cast comes together to perform You’re Not My Kind of Girl.
-
Sports8 years agoEthical Hacker: “I’ll Show You Why Google Has Just Shut Down Their Quantum Chip”
-
Business8 years ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Disney’s live-action Aladdin finally finds its stars
-
Sports8 years ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Mod turns ‘Counter-Strike’ into a ‘Tekken’ clone with fighting chickens
-
Fashion8 years ago
Your comprehensive guide to this fall’s biggest trends
You must be logged in to post a comment Login