Child sex abuse trial: "Harm caused is of unimaginable proportions"

Arshid Hussain (40), of East Cowick, Goole, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court today after being convicted of 23 child sex offences, including rape and indecent assault.

His brothers Basharat Hussain (38), of no fixed abode, and Bannaras Hussain (36), of Swinefleet, Goole were sentenced to 25 years and 19 years in prison respectively.

Their uncle, Qurban Ali, (53), of Clough Road, Rotherham, was jailed for 10 years. 

Pimp Karen MacGregor, (58), of Barnsley Road, Wath, was jailed for 13 years while Shelley Davies, (40), of Wainwright Road, Kimberworth Park, was given an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years.

Sentencing the gang to a total of 102 years at Sheffield Crown Court today, Judge Sarah Wright told them: “The harm you have caused is of unimaginable proportions.”

She said the “number, nature and gravity of these offences and the combination of the offences” forced her to depart from sentencing guidelines, adding: “I have come to the conclusion that in the case of Arshid Hussain, Bannaras Hussain and Basharat Hussain this takes the offences above the highest categories in the sentencing guidelines.”

Judge Wright said the victims of the abuse - which took place between 1987 and 2003 - had showed the “utmost courage” in coming forward.

She told the gang: “It seems to me that there has been delay in bringing you to justice because in many cases as a result of your behaviour towards them your victims felt unable to speak up out of fear, some out of a sense of shame and some out of a fear of not being believed or a fear of being blamed themselves for what was happening to them.”

Referring to one victim repeatedly raped and attacked by Basharat and Arshid Hussain, Judge Wright told the brothers: “You took away her childhood.”