Three men convicted of sexually assaulting 12-year-old girl in Telford

Three men have been convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl in Telford.

The victim told a jury she was forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard, was raped above a shop on a filthy mattress, and violently abused when she tried to refuse their advances.

Opening the case at the start of the trial, Michelle Heeley QC prosecuting, said the victim had been “passed around like a piece of meat for the sexual gratification of several young men, some of whom are in the dock”.

Five men have been on trial at Birmingham Crown Court (pictured), with the jury unanimously agreeing verdicts on Tuesday for three of the men.

Deliberations are continuing on another separate charge faced by one of the convicted men, and in the case of two other separate co-accused.

The offences are all alleged to have taken place in the Telford area of the West Midlands, in Shropshire, sometime between 2000 and 2003, and started when the girl, now an adult, was just 12.

Mohammed Ali Sultan, 33, formerly of Telford, was convicted of rape and three counts of indecent assault.

Jurors heard at trial how he already had previous convictions in both 2012 and 2015 for “similar offences against young girls”.

Amjad Hussain, 38, of Acacia Drive, Leegomery, Telford, was convicted of a single count of indecent assault – but jury deliberations are ongoing for a similar separate charge he is facing.

Co-accused Mohammad Rizwan, 37, of Mafeking Road, Telford, was also found guilty of two counts of indecent assault.

Rizwan, who alleged there had been a consensual sexual relationship with the victim when she was 17, saved the girl’s phone number under the contact name “blowjob2”, jurors heard.

Deliberations are continuing in the case of Shafiq Younas, 35, of Regent Street, Wellington, near Telford, who denies indecent assault, and Nazam Akhtar, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington, who denies rape.

The trial continues.

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