Court of Appeal to consider sentences of 'vile' Keighley grooming gang
Two of the grooming gang members are thought to have fled abroad
Last updated 21st Feb 2025
Three members of a "wicked, vile and sordid" grooming gang are to have their sentences reviewed by the Court of Appeal.
Ibrar Hussain, 47; and brothers Imtiaz Ahmed, 62; and Fayaz Ahmed, 45; were sent to prison for six-and-a-half years, nine years, and seven-and-a-half years at Bradford Crown Court last month.
They were convicted of raping a girl in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the 1990s, when she was 13 or 14.
But only Hussain was in the dock to hear his sentence as the Ahmeds absconded during their trial and are believed to be abroad.
They were the latest of eight defendants to have been convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls who were vulnerable and who were plied with alcohol and drugs.
After the case, Michael Quinn, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said the men's actions were "wicked, vile and sordid".
Robbie Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, wrote to the attorney general's office to complain about the grooming gang's sentences.
He said: "These men committed horrific crimes: rape, exploitation, and the sustained abuse of two 13 and 16 year old girls in our town.
"They received pathetically short sentences, which have finally been deemed weak enough to be challenged under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) Scheme."
Five of the eight will not have their sentences reviewed as their cases did not meet the ULS criteria.
But Lucy Rigby MP, the solicitor general, wrote to Mr Moore saying that she agreed that the sentences of Hussain and the Ahmed brothers met the criteria for challenge and she has referred their case to the Court of Appeal.