An ‘abhorrent’ grooming gang who preyed on vulnerable girls aged as young as 14 in a seaside town as recently as 2024 have today been jailed for a total of more than 80 years.
In a horrifying case which underlines warnings from campaigners that the scourge of Britain’s ‘rape gangs’ have not gone away, three men – one of them a refugee – plied young teenagers with drugs in the Welsh resort of Rhyl before sexually abusing them, with one victim put in handcuffs.
Sickeningly, Ziaullah Badshah, 25, who was granted asylum after leaving his native Pakistan as a child himself, tried to blame the girls’ parents, telling detectives ‘if you can’t look after your kids, don’t have babies’.
Another gang member, Mohamed Usman Arshad, 36, ran what was once described as ‘the friendliest café in Rhyl’ – but secretly raped one girl in a nearby alleyway.
He shamelessly told interviewing officers ‘it’s not like a grooming thing or anything’ before confessing his actions were ‘wrong’ and ‘disgusting’.
Even after being arrested as police closed in, a third abuser, takeaway delivery driver Mustafa Iqbal, 43, recorded himself coaching one of the victims on how to avoid CCTV cameras so they could continue meeting up.
Callously, the gang referred to the victims using Urdu slang for prostitutes, while Arshad and Iqbal swapped vile text messages arguing about one of the girls being passed to another man for sex.
All three were jailed today alongside jobless Jaswinder Singh, 61, who trafficked one of the girls to London, and crack addict Sarah Gray, 53, who allowed her home to be used for sexual abuse.
However police are facing questions after failing to take action against the gang following their initial arrests in 2022, with crucial mobile phone evidence not accessed.
Cafe owner Mohamed Usman Arshad, 36, who raped a girl after she was plied with alcohol and cannabis, later accepted his actions had been ‘disgusting’
Ziaullah Badshah, 25, who came to Britain as a refugee aged 15, tried to blame the victims’ parents after his arrest, telling detectives ‘if you can’t look after your kids, don’t have babies’
Takeaway delivery driver Mustafa Iqbal, 43, handcuffed a 16-year-old girl and raped her after she tried to buy drugs from him
The seaside attractions of the popular Welsh family resort of Rhyl hid a sinister child abuse ring
The case – which comes after two men were jailed for grooming and exploiting a teenage girl in Cardiff – has sparked calls for a long-awaited inquiry into England’s grooming gangs to be expanded to Wales.
With its long sandy beaches and bustling amusement arcades, Rhyl has attracted generations of holidaymakers.
But in recent years the resort has faced decline and deprivation, with boarded up shops and high levels of drug abuse.
The abuse began when two girls – then aged 14 and 15 – were walking through Rhyl in 2022, having smoked cannabis.
Iqbal, who delivered takeaway meals and drugs on his e-scooter, spotted the girls and persuaded them to come to his house, summoning his friends Arshad and Badshah.
There they were plied with drink and cannabis, the start of a horrendous ordeal of rape and sexual abuse which took place in cars, houses and business premises.
One of the girls later told how Badshah – who she described as ‘very mean’ – had exploited her drug addiction and treated her ‘like a prostitute’.
Another teen would later recall seeing her mouth ‘help’ while having sex with him.
A third victim, aged 16, was also preyed on after trying to buy drugs from Iqbal.
Jaswinder Singh, 61, left, drove the victims around Rhyl – including taking one to London, 250 miles away – and supplied them with cannabis, while Sarah Gray, 53, allowed her home to be used for sexual abuse and tried to destroy evidence
Mustafa Iqbal repeatedly refused to answer questions after being accused of raping two girls
He handcuffed her before having sex with her at Gray’s house in the nearby village of Gronant, she later told police.
‘He kept going and going and going,’ she told detectives, saying she felt ‘disgusted’ and that Iqbal would have been ‘100 per cent sure’ she wasn’t consenting.
Singh, who lived on benefits and was recruited to drive the victims around and supply them with cannabis, later trafficked one nearly 250 miles to London to get a fake passport so she could go clubbing in the capital.
He told her to pretend she was his 22-year-old carer to avoid arousing suspicions that he was part of an ‘Asian grooming gang’, Caernarfon Crown Court heard.
All the victims were known to local social services, it is understood.
Police were contacted in 2022 after a friend of the girl became concerned, and the four men were arrested, but at that stage she lied in order to protect them and they were released.
Abuse continued for another two years before the men were finally charged after police were given further details.
Interviewed by detectives, Badshah – who came to Britain as an unaccompanied asylum seeker when he was 15 – tried to pin the blame on the girls’ parents.
‘If you can’t look after your kids, don’t have babies, please,’ he said.
He told shocked officers ‘it’s ruining people’s life, it’s not something joke (sic)’.
Arshad, a father-of-two who ran a long-established family-owned café around the corner from Rhyl police station, told officers: ‘It’s not like a grooming thing or anything, we weren’t grooming anything.’
Asked if he knew that supplying children drugs and kissing them was wrong, he admitted: ‘It’s wrong, I know it, it’s disgusting.’
Iqbal, a trained chef, repeatedly answered ‘no comment’ to questions.
Damning evidence from messages on seized phones showed the derogatory way they referred to the girls, branding them ‘gushti’, a slang word for prostitutes.
In one exchange, Iqbal complained to Arshad that he had ‘given’ a girl to the ‘next man’, moaning: ‘Thought you was my mate.’
Rhyl (pictured) has faced decline and deprivation, with boarded up shops and high levels of drug abuse
After Arshad asked ‘is Thursday ok’, Iqbal replied that he ‘could of (sic) come here and shagged her’.
All five were convicted of offences including child rape, slavery, human trafficking and dealing drugs stretching from 2022 to 2024 after a three-month trial.
Iqbal, branded ‘devious’ and ‘dangerous’ by Judge Simon Mills, was today jailed for 30 years after being found guilty of multiple counts including four rapes against two of the girls as well as three sexual assaults.
He was also convicted of conspiracy to traffic, conspiracy to supply cannabis and cocaine, and conspiracy to require a person to perform compulsory labour, and was given an extended licence period of five years.
Arshad, who was found guilty of three counts of rape against one victim, was jailed for 19 years, while Badshah, who was convicted of two rapes against one victim, was given a 17-year sentence.
Both Arshad and Badshah were also convicted of conspiracy to traffic and to require a person to perform compulsory labour, and supplying cannabis.
Singh was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to traffic and one count of supplying cannabis.
Gray was convicted of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender for destroying evidence by washing bedding, and conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Both were today jailed for eight years.
Arshad, Iqbal, Singh and Gray were all born in the UK.
In a victim impact statement read to the court today, one of the girls told how she resorted to self-harming during her ordeal and still struggled with relationships and intimacy.
She added: ‘I am frightened of being recognised by family members of the defendants which is why I don’t like to go into Rhyl – I don’t know what they will do or say to me.
‘This has been the most traumatic experience I have ever faced.
‘Although I feel that I have dealt with it well, I know that it is something I will never forget and will have to learn to live with.’
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Sidney, of North Wales Police, said the men had ‘manipulated, exploited and targeted these girls’ before grooming them for sex.
‘They showed no remorse, they constantly used victim-blaming language and tried to shift the blame onto others,’ he added.
Louisa Robertson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the girls had shown ‘great courage’ in speaking to detectives about the ‘abhorrent’ sexual abuse they suffered.
A safeguarding review will now examine the girls’ abuse and whether agencies including police missed opportunities to step in and protect them.
The appalling abuse the girls were subjected to has sparked a political row, with the Plaid Cymru minority government in Cardiff rejecting calls for a public inquiry into the extent of grooming in Wales.
Also this year Cardiff-based duo Azad Ahmed and Wasee Shikel, both aged 50, were each jailed for 16 years after they groomed and exploited a vulnerable teenage girl in 2021.
Grooming survivor Emily Vaughn, who was herself trafficked into Wales for sex, said: ‘It’s heartbreaking that such devastating abuse is still happening in towns like Rhyl.
‘Constantly saying Wales doesn’t have a problem with grooming gangs means victims are discouraged from coming forward.
‘Only a public inquiry can provide the answers the public deserve.’
Backing her, Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said: ‘Given everything that’s been learnt about grooming gangs operating in English towns, I’m extremely concerned that this abuse has been taking place in Wales so recently.
‘Wales should not be a footnote in the UK inquiry into grooming gangs – only a Wales-wide inquiry is capable of uncovering the scale of the problem.’
And Helen Jenner, newly elected leader of Reform Wales, said: ‘A case like this proves that this sort of abuse isn’t just something that happened 20 years ago, it’s still taking place today in our communities.
‘We need a full and proper inquiry into rape gang activity here in Wales, so we can get answers for victims and prevent this abuse from continuing.’
Labour has faced a stream of criticism over its response to grooming gangs.
Sir Keir Starmer initially resisted calls for a national inquiry after Mr Musk sparked a political row when he used his X social media platform to attack the then Prime Minister over the long-running scandal.
Finally, after months of delays, former children’s commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield was appointed to head up a probe to investigate what she has branded a ‘catastrophic failure of the state’.
London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley will be the first areas investigated.
Following the sentencing, Satvir Kaur, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said the UK Government was ‘committed to supporting victims and survivors whilst putting more grooming gang members behind bars’.
The Welsh Government said it was ‘engaging fully’ with Baroness Longfield’s inquiry ‘to ensure Welsh voices are heard and lessons are acted upon’.
In addition a spokesman pointed to its ‘ten-year strategy on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse’.
