CSE victim Fiona Goddard speaks exclusively to the Daily Express (Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Express)
Brave survivor Fiona Goddard waived her automatic right to anonymity as a rape victim because she “refuses to be ashamed” of the criminal actions of others.
And she says it is crucial that she tells her harrowing story of rape and abuse whilst living in a children’s home at the age of 14 so the public understand the full horrors of a case that saw her abusers jailed for a total of 132 years.
She was one of two teenage girls targeted by a gang of nine depraved sex monsters who used drink, drugs and violence to groom and sexually exploit them.
The allegations came to light in 2014 when Fiona saw a report on the Rotherham abuse scandal and realised it was what had happened to her.
But after going to the police it took five years for the case to reach trial – leaving her abusers to continue living in her community.
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The gang were jailed for the abuse (Image: PA)
Kama Melly QC, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court how the girls had been “vulnerable to manipulation” prior to being subjected to sickening abuse at the hands of the men “to satisfy their sexual desires.”
Gang ringleader Basharat Khaliq lured them into his nest after meeting the girls when he was aged 27, and buying them a bottle of vodka.
Over the following years he groomed and repeatedly raped one of the girls and abused the other.
At the same time the girls were being groomed by brothers Saeed and Naveed Akthar, who took them to a property where Fiona was “in effect used as a prostitute” with men turning up to systematically abuse her.
Sentencing the gang Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: “You appear not to have shown any respect for the minimum standards of decent behaviour.”
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Khaliq, then 38, was found guilty of five counts of rape and jailed for 20 years. Saeed Akhtar, then 55, was convicted of two counts of inciting child prostitution and one count of rape and jailed for 20 years.
His brother Naveed Akhtar, 43 at the time, was jailed for 17 years for two counts of rape. Parvaze Ahmed, 36, was convicted of three counts of rape and jailed for 17 years.
Izar Hussain, 32, was sentenced to 16 years for rape. Zeeshan Ali, 32, was convicted of sexual assault and jailed for 18 months.
Kieran Harris, 28, was convicted of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Faheem Iqbal, 27, was convicted of aiding and abetting rape and jailed for seven years.
Mohammed Usman, 31, was jailed for 17 years for rape.