Child Abuse
Four years an three months seems like an incredibly lenient sentence to impose on a vile man who has been convicted of child abuse, abduction and rape - since a young girl under 16 cannot give 'consent' to an unlawful act.
Yet this article from the Times sets out the terrible details of yet another disturbing case - from the north west of England.
So if this man was given only 4 years and 3 months in prison - presumably his co-conspirators who have been charged with 'perverting the course of justice, threatening behaviour and unauthorised accessing of computer material' - might not get sent to jail at all.
In which case the criminal justice system should be ashamed of itself - because this kind of sentencing policy is self-evidently failing to protect the public.
Receptionist gave grooming victim’s records to accused
Mohammed Imran Amjad was jailed for child abduction and child sex
A social services worker illegally accessed private records about a sex-grooming victim as part of an attempt to sabotage the prosecution of the suspected perpetrators, it can be revealed today.
The woman, a receptionist for Lancashire social services, was one of several friends and relatives of the alleged abusers who tried to wreck the prosecution.
They threatened witnesses, gave gifts and money to the girl at the centre of the case and persuaded her to write and sign a false statement retracting her abuse allegations.
When the six accused men finally appeared at Burnley Crown Court last year, accused of rape, sexual assault and child abduction, their trial collapsed after a day because the 16-year-old — said to have been the victim of serious offences from the age of 14 — refused to give evidence.
A retrial, held at Manchester Crown Court in March, also ended abruptly because the girl changed her story to suggest that the sexual activity was consensual.
Only one of the six defendants was convicted of any offence. Mohammed Imran Amjad, 26, who changed his plea to admit three counts of child abduction and one of sexual activity with a child, was jailed for four years and three months.
His five co-defendants walked free from court, but police investigations into the abandonment of the first trial have now led to a further four people being convicted of offences including perverting the course of justice, threatening behaviour and the unauthorised accessing of computer material.
Those found guilty include Amjad’s brother, his cousin and his girlfriend, Mahdiya Khan, whose duties with Lancashire social services’s Burnley office included staffing the reception desk and typing and checking details on a database containing social care records.
Khan, 21, accessed an internal computer database more than 60 times in 15 days to view and print out information that included the “extremely sensitive” records of the young witness and her family. She later shared some of the details with Amjad.
The young victim told police that Amjad boasted he would always know if she spoke to the authorities about him because he had a way of accessing official information.
In the trial that collapsed last year, Amjad and five others were accused of raping and abusing the teenager at a house in Brierfield, near Burnley, said to have been used as both a drugs den and a place where men would take girls for sex.
The prosecution claimed that the victim was befriended by Amjad when she was 12 and taken for drives in his car. He was said to have gradually “subdued her will” to a point where she was sexually abused in the house on numerous occasions.
In addition to Khan’s computer crimes, other attempts were made to gain access to the child either directly or through members of her family.
On one occasion, Waqas Khalid, Amjad’s cousin, and three other men approached the girl’s sister in the street. They followed her before Khalid, 19, threatened to rape her and the girls’ mother. She was also warned that their family home would be “blown up”.
On another occasion Qasim Hussain, 20, an associate, persuaded the girl to travel with him in a taxi from Burnley to Bradford, where he bought pens and notepaper before dictating a letter in which she retracted her abuse allegations. It included the sentence: “I didn’t have sex with any of the boys who’s in court next month. I didn’t get raped.”
Furqan Amjad, 23, Amjad’s brother, also pursued a “charm offensive” against the child in the weeks leading up to the trial, making contact with her 350 times through voice calls and texts.
On the eve of the trial he gave her £10 and paid to top up her mobile phone. The pair even exchanged texts when she was about to enter the courtroom. In one, Furqan told her to “have some courage”. The girl subsequently refused to give evidence.
Khan was jailed for eight months last year after she admitted six charges of gaining unauthorised access to computer material and asked for a further 24 offences to be taken into consideration.
Lancashire County Council said yesterday that all staff who have access to restricted information receive appropriate training and advice about confidentiality. Khan was immediately suspended, and later sacked, after her offending came to light.
Furqan Amjad was jailed for 15 months this year for perverting the course of justice. Khalid, originally charged with witness intimidation, was fined £300 after admitting threatening behaviour.
Hussain, who was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court next week. He has been warned by a judge to expect a lengthy prison sentence.
Detective Chief Inspector Sion Hall, from Lancashire Constabulary, said that several girls were horrendously abused at the Brierfield house, but some have not been traced and others were unwilling — or unable on medical advice — to give evidence.
“We only had one victim [as a witness] and by the second day of the original trial we realised she’d been got at,” he said.
“She was a vulnerable girl with low self-esteem and they were very sophisticated. They understood the criminal justice process and how to undermine it. They tried everything to persuade her not to give evidence.”
The woman, a receptionist for Lancashire social services, was one of several friends and relatives of the alleged abusers who tried to wreck the prosecution.
They threatened witnesses, gave gifts and money to the girl at the centre of the case and persuaded her to write and sign a false statement retracting her abuse allegations.
When the six accused men finally appeared at Burnley Crown Court last year, accused of rape, sexual assault and child abduction, their trial collapsed after a day because the 16-year-old — said to have been the victim of serious offences from the age of 14 — refused to give evidence.
A retrial, held at Manchester Crown Court in March, also ended abruptly because the girl changed her story to suggest that the sexual activity was consensual.
Only one of the six defendants was convicted of any offence. Mohammed Imran Amjad, 26, who changed his plea to admit three counts of child abduction and one of sexual activity with a child, was jailed for four years and three months.
His five co-defendants walked free from court, but police investigations into the abandonment of the first trial have now led to a further four people being convicted of offences including perverting the course of justice, threatening behaviour and the unauthorised accessing of computer material.
Those found guilty include Amjad’s brother, his cousin and his girlfriend, Mahdiya Khan, whose duties with Lancashire social services’s Burnley office included staffing the reception desk and typing and checking details on a database containing social care records.
Khan, 21, accessed an internal computer database more than 60 times in 15 days to view and print out information that included the “extremely sensitive” records of the young witness and her family. She later shared some of the details with Amjad.
The young victim told police that Amjad boasted he would always know if she spoke to the authorities about him because he had a way of accessing official information.
In the trial that collapsed last year, Amjad and five others were accused of raping and abusing the teenager at a house in Brierfield, near Burnley, said to have been used as both a drugs den and a place where men would take girls for sex.
The prosecution claimed that the victim was befriended by Amjad when she was 12 and taken for drives in his car. He was said to have gradually “subdued her will” to a point where she was sexually abused in the house on numerous occasions.
In addition to Khan’s computer crimes, other attempts were made to gain access to the child either directly or through members of her family.
On one occasion, Waqas Khalid, Amjad’s cousin, and three other men approached the girl’s sister in the street. They followed her before Khalid, 19, threatened to rape her and the girls’ mother. She was also warned that their family home would be “blown up”.
On another occasion Qasim Hussain, 20, an associate, persuaded the girl to travel with him in a taxi from Burnley to Bradford, where he bought pens and notepaper before dictating a letter in which she retracted her abuse allegations. It included the sentence: “I didn’t have sex with any of the boys who’s in court next month. I didn’t get raped.”
Furqan Amjad, 23, Amjad’s brother, also pursued a “charm offensive” against the child in the weeks leading up to the trial, making contact with her 350 times through voice calls and texts.
On the eve of the trial he gave her £10 and paid to top up her mobile phone. The pair even exchanged texts when she was about to enter the courtroom. In one, Furqan told her to “have some courage”. The girl subsequently refused to give evidence.
Khan was jailed for eight months last year after she admitted six charges of gaining unauthorised access to computer material and asked for a further 24 offences to be taken into consideration.
Lancashire County Council said yesterday that all staff who have access to restricted information receive appropriate training and advice about confidentiality. Khan was immediately suspended, and later sacked, after her offending came to light.
Furqan Amjad was jailed for 15 months this year for perverting the course of justice. Khalid, originally charged with witness intimidation, was fined £300 after admitting threatening behaviour.
Hussain, who was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court next week. He has been warned by a judge to expect a lengthy prison sentence.
Detective Chief Inspector Sion Hall, from Lancashire Constabulary, said that several girls were horrendously abused at the Brierfield house, but some have not been traced and others were unwilling — or unable on medical advice — to give evidence.
“We only had one victim [as a witness] and by the second day of the original trial we realised she’d been got at,” he said.
“She was a vulnerable girl with low self-esteem and they were very sophisticated. They understood the criminal justice process and how to undermine it. They tried everything to persuade her not to give evidence.”
