How the ‘Knickerman’ market stall holder groomed girls to be raped by | UK | News

The ringleader of one Britain’s most depraved grooming gangs has been jailed for 35 years after the evil sex predators from Rochdale’s latest vile abuse ring were finally brought to justice after their victims endured a two-decade wait. The seven paedophiles, convicted of 30 counts of rape, felt they were “untouchable” due to a shocking failure by police and social workers to protect their vulnerable young victims.

Astonishingly one of the girls – living in a children’s home at the time – was dismissed by social workers as having been ‘prostituting’ herself from the age of ten. Earlier this year Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer finally committed to a national enquiry to find the true extent of the sickening scandal after pressure from victims, campaigners, politicians and X owner Elon Musk became deafening. The seven men – all of Pakistani heritage – were convicted of exploiting two young girls as ‘sex slaves’ in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006. The gang preyed on the vulnerabilities of the victims to groom them from the age of 13 over a five-year-long campaign of abuse

Mohammed Zahid, 65, known as ‘knickerman’ gave free underwear from his lingerie stall at Rochdale Indoor Market to both teenagers, with money, alcohol and food, in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.

The father-of-three was today jailed for 35 years for the systematic abuse of the grils between 2001 and 2006.

Both girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were given drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, places to stay and people to be with, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

They were expected to have sex “whenever and wherever” the defendants and other men wanted in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.

Three of the abusers, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50 – all born in Pakistan – had been stallholders on Rochdale’s indoor market.

The gang’s depraved pot-bellied ringleader Zahid was known as ‘Knickerman’ because of his underwear stall at the centuries-old trading hub.

The father-of-three exploited his products’ appeal to young girls to lure in vulnerable youngsters who were then subjected to “years of misery”.

Previous trials have heard how a network of depraved taxi drivers and takeaway staff – mainly from Rochdale’s Pakistani community – passed around vulnerable girls and sexually abused them.

But this one revealed another location tainted by grooming gangs – the town’s markets.

Dating back to the award of a charter in 1251, Rochdale’s market has been a source of prosperity and pride for centuries.

But its popularity with young girls in particularly would be exploited by Zahid – who was known by his cronies as ‘Bossman’.

Fellow traders revall Zahid was a “pest” and a “creep” – but insist they had no idea he was using his stall to groom girls.

One said: “He had a real reputation for chasing women. He was always offering them free stuff, especially young girls.

“I know there was a lot of women who bought lingerie off him but would never go back because of the way he made them feel.

“It was well-known that he was a pervert but what he has done is still shocking.”

Once trading had finished for the day, the grotesque pair would take the stock to a nearby shop, Maria Fashions, then run by another paedophile, co-defendant Mushtaq Ahmed.

Already duped by Zahid’s superficially friendly manner and the offer of small amounts of cash or free underwear, the girls would naively agree to enter the store’s dingy cellar.

Here they would strip off and wait to be joined by men who raped and sexually assaulted them on a filthy mattress.

Maria Fashions – the shop beneath which the victims were ordered to strip before being raped on a ‘rancid’ mattress – is now under new ownership.

Later the traders acquired a storeroom to keep their wares in overnight – it soon became a new location where the girls could be abused.

By now dehumanised by their treatment, the girls were callously passed on by Zahid to paedophile taxi drivers from Rochdale’s Pakistani community in return for payment.

One was regularly raped by members of the grooming ring at what she described as a “horror house” in Oldham.

Girl B – who was raped by the two market traders and shopkeeper Ahmed – told jurors that she was sexually abused by “close to 100” men.

Since being released from a five-year sentence in 2016, Zahid is understood to have been living off benefits.

The latest convictions represent the eighth time that a group of men of mainly Pakistani heritage have been convicted of grooming girls for sex in Rochdale in the early 2000s.

A further 20 men have been charged with similar offences, with five further trials planned stretching towards the end of 2026.

Greater Manchester Police insist their attitude towards victims of organised sexual abuse today is “light years” ahead of what it was two decades ago.

It now has a dedicated major incident team for large-scale child sexual abuse cases with almost 100 investigators.

Nevertheless campaigners and victims’ groups insist that there are still not enough resources being put into rounding up today’s gangs.

Police chiefs themselves admit abusers have simply changed their tactics, targeting victims through vape shops or sleazy back-street hotels.

Meanwhile Rochdale council has stressed that no one involved in failing the girls in the early 2000s still works there.

The Rochdale grooming scandal – later brought to mass TV audiences by the hard-hitting BBC1 drama Three Girls – has its roots in takeaways in the Greater Manchester former mill town.

In 2008 a 15-year-old girl was arrested after smashing the counter at one of the takeaways.

She told officers that two men – among them Shabir Ahmed, now serving a 22-year prison sentence – had subjected her to repeated sexual abuse, plying her with vodka before raping her.

But despite evidence which included DNA swabs from her underwear, a senior CPS lawyer ruled there was no prospect of conviction and the pair were never charged.

The decision was taken during Sir Keir Starmer’s term as Director of Public Prosecutions – he later suggested they were let down due to “an issue of ethnicity” coupled with a “lack of understanding” of the victims.

Over the next two years, dozens of white teenagers were abused by older men in the gang.

Finally, in 2010 Nazir Afzal was appointed chief crown prosecutor for North West England and ordered file to be re-examined.

Twelve men were arrested, but many of the girls were too scared to give evidence in court or regarded the men as their boyfriends despite the age gap.

However five bravely agreed to testify against their abusers.

Their courage was vindicated in 2012 when Ahmed – then 59 – and eight other men were jailed for a total of 77 years for raping and abusing up to 47 girls aged as young as 13.

Their convictions sparked a heated debate over the predominantly Pakistani make-up of the gang and whether political correctness had played a part in the reluctance to tackle grooming across the North of England.

It also led to another victim coming forward with a further nine men given sentences of up to 25 years.

Meanwhile a new Greater Manchester Police investigation – dubbed Operation Doublet – into ‘missed opportunities’ during the initial Rochdale grooming inquiries would see another 20 men jailed over four separate trials.

During this investigation a grooming survivor told police she had been sexually abused by hundreds of men, but did not want to testify against them.

However in 2015 – as the Operation Doublet cases were going to court – she changed her mind and agreed to tell detectives about her ordeal.

Police launched a new and still ongoing investigation – Operation Lytton – based on what she could recall of locations where the abuse took place and the men’s nicknames.

Ninety-four people have so far been interviewed as suspects, with around 50 potential victims.

It finally reached trial in 2023 when five men were convicted of abusing her and another victim and jailed for 71 and a half years.

The second trial concluded on Friday with a further seven men convicted for abusing the same survivor – Girl A – and a third victim, Girl B.

Five more trials are planned, all relating to abuse from the early 2000s.