LONDON (Reuters) -Seven men who sexually exploited two vulnerable girls in northern England were jailed on Wednesday for a total of 174 years, after they were convicted following the latest trial over a decades-old “grooming gangs” scandal.
The men were convicted in June after a trial involving a total of 50 offences, including 30 counts of rape, which occurred between 2001 and 2006.
Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella told jurors at the start of their trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court that the group’s two victims were “passed around for sex, abused, degraded and then discarded”.
PROSECUTOR SAYS GIRLS KNOWN TO SOCIAL SERVICES
Scamardella also said the two girls were known to social services and that it was “no secret” they were having sex with older South Asian men such as the defendants, a situation with similarities to other grooming gangs.
The men had all denied the charges, but were unanimously convicted and given sentences of between 12 and 35 years in prison on Wednesday, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said.
The scandal returned to the top of the political agenda in Britain this year following criticism from Elon Musk of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The owner of social media platform X accused Starmer of failing to tackle the scandal when he was Britain’s chief prosecutor, which Starmer angrily rejected.
Starmer in June announced he would accept a recommendation for a national inquiry into grooming gangs who sexually abused thousands of girls, the day after the seven men were convicted.
A 2014 inquiry found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in Rotherham, northern England, between 1997 and 2013.
The report said the majority of known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage and that in some cases local officials and other agencies had been wary of identifying ethnic origins for fear of upsetting community cohesion, or being seen as racist.
Grooming gangs in other towns and cities in England have also prompted criminal prosecutions and local inquiries.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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