Rape gang in British seaside town found guilty of plying teenage girls with drugs for sex

Four Rhyl men have been found guilty of operating as a grooming gang that raped and sexually exploited vulnerable teenage girls aged 14 and 15.

Following a three-month trial at Caernarfon Crown Court, Mustafa Iqbal, 43, Mohamed Arshad, 36, and Ziaullah Badshah, 25, were each found guilty of rape and sexual exploitation of the victims.

Jaswinder Singh, 61, also from Rhyl, was convicted for his role in a conspiracy to traffic the girls.

A fifth defendant, 53-year-old grandmother Sarah Gray, from Gronant in Flintshire, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, assisting an offender, and conspiring to supply Class A drugs.

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All five await sentencing on September 25 at Caernarfon Crown Court.

The abuse began on a spring evening in 2022 when Iqbal, a local drug dealer and takeaway driver, noticed the two victims out in the seaside town.

He persuaded the 14-year-old, referred to as Girl C, and the 15-year-old, known as Girl B, to come back to his home, where he summoned his friends Badshah and Arshad, who ran Zayns Coffee House on Market Street.

The teenagers were given alcohol and cannabis and made to play spin the bottle.

Prosecutors told the court that Iqbal, who chose not to give evidence in his own defence, swiftly determined the pair were "ripe for sexual exploitation".

The four men were "friends who shared details of what they could get the girls to do" in return for drugs, the prosecution alleged.

Prosecuting barrister Owen Edwards KC told the jury: "These men treated the girls as sexual commodities. They took full sexual advantage."

The exploitation only came to light because of a trip to London organised by Singh.

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He transported the 15-year-old Girl B to the capital and instructed her to pose as his 22-year-old carer, fearing his sister would otherwise suspect he was involved in "an Asian grooming gang", the court heard.

Upon encountering the teenager, another young woman quickly recognised she was in danger, and her subsequent intervention alongside her mother brought the police into the case.

Iqbal subsequently began grooming a third victim, Child A, a 16-year-old from a care setting whom he collected in his car and used as a "sexual plaything".

She ultimately reported him to police after he handcuffed her and forced her to have sex, triggering the prosecution of all five defendants.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors maintained that the defendants were fully aware the girls were underage, despite the teenagers having claimed to be 17.

Evidence presented to the jury showed that Iqbal and Arshad had misrepresented their own ages to the victims, telling them they were 22 and 25.

When challenged about why he failed to correct this deception and reveal his true age of 32, Arshad replied: "I don't know, sir. I should've corrected him."

Mr Edwards KC pressed the point: "It's really pervy for men in their thirties to invite girls into their house. Far less pervy if 22 or 25. Not a couple of men with cars and businesses taking advantage of kids."

Badshah acknowledged having sex with the 15-year-old but insisted it was consensual, claiming he only learned her true age after the London trip.

Gray, 53, was accused of letting Iqbal use her Gronant home as a safe house where he sexually exploited Child A.

Prosecutors also alleged she laundered bedding after a rape allegation was made.

Iqbal's convictions were the most extensive: four counts of rape, three of sexual assault, three of inciting a child under 16 into sexual activity, six offences under the Modern Slavery Act, and conspiracy to supply both Class A and Class B drugs.

Arshad was convicted on three rape charges, conspiracy to traffic, forced labour, and supplying cannabis to the two girls.

Singh, of River Street in Rhyl, had denied any sexual contact with the victims and pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to traffic and supplying cannabis.

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