Seven men have been found guilty of sexually exploiting two teenage girls who were repeatedly raped and assaulted in Rochdale for five years.
The gang was convicted at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court of various sexual offences against the girls between 2001 and 2006.
The victims were groomed from the age of 13 and treated as “sex slaves”, being expected to “have sex with the men whenever and wherever they wanted”, the trial heard.
Jurors deliberated for three weeks before delivering their unanimous guilty verdicts.
The court heard that both girls had “deeply troubled home lives” and were plied with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes and given places to stay.
Three of the abusers, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, were stallholders on the town’s indoor market.
Father-of-three Zahid, who was known as Boss Man, gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to both complainants.
He also gifted them with money, alcohol and food in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends, the court heard.
In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case after he engaged in sexual activity in 2006 with a 15-year-old girl who he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.
