A sexual predator who married a 15-year-old girl living in a care home is one of eight men found guilty of sexual offences against her. The British Pakistani man, now 43, “married” the victim in an Islamic wedding ceremony in the early 2000s, which the court heard was attended by her key social worker.
Bradford Crown Court heard Raja Zulqurnean forced the victim to wear Islamic dress, eat a halal diet, and stopped her from seeing family because they were “non-believers”. A jury also heard he sometimes locked her in a cellar at a Bradford property, sexually abused her and deprived her of food, education and medical care.
Zulqurnean was found guilty of ten counts of rape and nine indecent assaults, reports the BBC. He was jailed in May for a minimum of 18 years, but appeal court judges increased it to 23.
The court heard the victim was groomed and sexually abused by men from the age of 13, which continued when she was in a Bradford children’s home. The victim said the systems designed to protect her enabled her abuse.
She told the BBC: “This was far more than a grooming case. This was an institutional scandal and no one cared for my wellbeing. I was married to an abuser. How could a child marry? Social services enabled it.”
Police records showed she went missing 101 times between 2002 and 2004.
A social worker told the court that up to ten cars with men inside were seen arriving per night at the children’s home, and registration plates were given to police weekly.
David Greenwood, the victim’s solicitor, said the staff in the children’s home “knew these serious crimes were being committed”.
He criticised the social workers and police in the early 2000s, when the abuse was being carried out, and said the police should have stopped it immediately.
The victim said giving evidence has had a devastating impact on her wellbeing. The woman, who has lifelong anonymity, added that she has experienced more trauma than she did as a child because she had to relive her experience over again in her 30s.
She said there were “so many victims” who have not been heard, and that other girls at the children’s home had spoken about sexual exploitation.
She said the women who had got justice over the last decade were “just a snippet” of those who had been abused in Bradford and Keighley.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said that the force had significantly invested in and improved its safeguarding capability since the early 2010s and it had taken a “proactive and meticulous approach to exploring previous incidents”.
The spokesperson said that many investigations were still under way: “The work undertaken over the past decade has resulted in hundreds of perpetrators now serving lengthy prison sentences.”
Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said there had been “serious failings in the way the council and other agencies in our district acted at that time and we’ve apologised for that”. She added: “They did not protect the victim as they should have.”
She said the victim’s experiences were part of an earlier review of child sex abuse in the district, and the findings were fed into the nationwide Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Hinchcliffe said recommendations had been acted on locally so that agencies could “better protect children” now.
In July, the prime minister announced there would be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales.
The BBC understands the victim’s former key social worker was questioned by police on suspicion of malfeasance in public office, but no further action was taken.
Eight men were convicted at Bradford Crown Court in connection with the victim’s sexual abuse:
Raja Zulqurnean 43, of Bradford, was found guilty of 10 rapes and nine indecent assaults and was sentenced to 23 years in jail
Basharat Khaliq, 45, of Bradford, was found guilty of three rapes and four counts of indecent assault and awaits sentencing
Mohammed Naheem, 39, of Bradford, was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and awaits sentencing
Safraz Ahmed Latif, 40, of Bradford, was found guilty of four indecent assaults and awaits sentencing
Wajid Hussain, 42, of Bradford, was found guilty of indecent assault and awaits sentencing
Nadeem Ali, 39, of Bradford, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and awaits sentencing
Mohammed Imran Akram, 43, of Bradford, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and awaits sentencing
Mohammed Shezhad Hussain, 39, of Keighley, was found guilty of two rapes and three counts of indecent assault and awaits sentencing