Justice has delivered a heavy blow to seven men convicted of sexually exploiting two vulnerable girls in one of the UK’s most disturbing ‘grooming gang’ cases. Found guilty last June on a total of 50 charges—including 30 rapes committed between 2001 and 2006—all seven were sentenced today (October 1, 2025) by a Manchester court to a combined 174 years in prison. Sentences ranged from 12 to 35 years.
“These two girls were extremely vulnerable… you passed them around for sex, abused them, humiliated them, and then discarded them,” Judge Jonathan Stead told the court. The ringleader, 65-year-old Pakistani-born Mohammed Zahid, received the harshest sentence—35 years. Zahid, who sold underwear at a Rochdale market in northern England, lured teenagers with promises of alcohol and drugs in exchange for sexual acts.
Kashir Bashir, 50, was sentenced in absentia to 29 years, while Mustaq Ahmed, 67, received 27 years. Prosecutor Rosano Scammardella told jurors at the trial’s opening that the girls were known to social services and it was no secret they were involved in sexual relationships with older men of South Asian origin.
For decades, across various English towns, groups of men—often of Pakistani heritage—have exploited young girls, typically from disadvantaged backgrounds. Over 100 men have now been convicted, with victims numbering in the thousands. Police and social services have faced severe criticism for failing to protect minors.
The scandal resurfaced in UK political discourse this year after Elon Musk accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of ignoring it during his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions—a claim Starmer angrily rejected. In June, Starmer announced support for a national inquiry into these grooming gangs that sexually abused thousands of children.
A 2014 report found at least 1,400 children were victims of sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013. Most perpetrators were of Pakistani descent, and in some cases, officials hesitated to identify their ethnicity to avoid damaging community cohesion or being labeled racist.