Two ‘sexual predators’ who subjected a series of vulnerable girls to rapes and sexual assaults described by a judge as a ‘reign of terror’ were given indefinite prison sentences today.Abid Mohammed Saddique, 27, was jailed for a minimum of 11 years at Nottingham Crown Court.
Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, 28, was told he must serve at least eight years before he is considered for release.
The men were sentenced as dozens of police lined the street outside the court in front of a protest by the right-wing EDL.
More officers were stationed in the court building.
It comes after a senior detective accused police and social services of allowing hundreds of young white girls to be exploited by Asian men over fears of being branded racist if they spoke out.
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Edwards, of West Mercia Poice, said: 'These girls are being passed around and used as meat.'
Agencies have identified a long-term pattern of offending by gangs of men, predominantly from the British Pakistani community, who have befriended and abused hundreds of vulnerable girls aged 11 to 16.
Experts claim the statistics represent a mere fraction of a 'tidal wave' of offending in counties across the Midlands and the north of England which has been going on for more than a decade.
In the past three years, 14 court prosecutions have taken place involving the on-street grooming of girls aged 11 to 16 by groups of men.
The figure is a startling rise from the total of three such prosecutions since 1997.
Since 1996 a similar pattern of collective abuse has emerged involving hundreds of girls aged 11 to 16 in Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Rotherham, Derby, Keighley, Skipton, Blackpool, Oldham, Blackburn, Rochdale, Preston and Burnley.
In this latest case, the men were the prime movers in a group of men who befriended girls aged from 12 to 18 in the Derby area and groomed them for sex.
Saddique and Liaqat - both married with children - were said to be the leaders of the Derby gang.
Today Judge Philip Head told Saddique: 'Your crimes can only be described as evil,' adding he was an 'evil, manipulative and controlling' character who was a continuing danger to young girls.
The judge said: 'You are in the truest sense a sexual predator with a voracious sexual appetite that you gratified as frequently as possible in a variety of ways.'
He said the pair's attitude was 'sex at any price' as they and others embarked on a 'reign of terror on girls in Derby'.
At the opening of the first trial, held at Nottingham Crown Court, prosecutor Yvonne Coen QC said: ‘They preyed on young girls who were vulnerable, either because of their age and because of their own personal circumstances.
‘They exploited these girls either for their own sexual satisfaction or for their friends'.’
Saddique, of Northumberland Street, Normanton, Derby, was convicted of four counts of rape as well as two counts of false imprisonment, two of sexual assault, three charges of sexual activity with a child, perverting the course of justice and aiding and abetting rape.
Liaqat, of Briar Lea Close, Sinfin, Derby, was found guilty of one count of rape, two of sexual assault, aiding and abetting rape, affray, and four counts of sexual activity with a child.
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