Six men who were members of a child abuse ring in Aylesbury have been handed lengthy prison sentences for grooming vulnerable underage girls for sex for as little as “the price of a McDonald’s, a milkshake and cinema ticket”.

The men were convicted at the Old Bailey of a range of sex offences between 2006 and 2012, including multiple rape of a child under 13, child prostitution and administering a substance to “stupefy” a girl in order to engage in sexual activity.

Vikram Singh, Asif Hussain, Arshad Jani, Mohammed Imran, Akbari Khan and Taimoor Khan were jailed on Monday for between three and 19-and-a-half years.

Most of the offences related to child A, who was present in court to see the men who robbed her of her teenage years sent down.

In a statement, she told of her feelings of worthlessness as she battled depression and alcohol addiction, adding: “I feel my teenage years were taken away from me.”

During the sentencing, the judge, John Bevan QC, paid tribute to her bravery in laying bare her life “warts and all” and said the way some of the defendants took advantage of her vulnerability was “grotesque”.



He said: “She sought friendship amongst Asian males in their 20s and for the price of a McDonald’s, a milkshake and cinema ticket, she became ‘liked’ by stallholders in Aylesbury market, taxi and bus drivers.

“By the age of 13 she was sexually experienced, confusing sexual gratification for friendship and love.”

By the time she was 16, the girl had slept with just under 70 men and her vulnerability should have been “blindingly obvious”, the judge said.

He went on: “Why these defendants focused their attention on white underage girls is unexplained but I have no doubt vulnerability played a substantial part in it.

“The combination of inadequate parenting leading to rebellious children lacking supervision provided an opportunity. If they pursued Asian underage girls, they would have paid a heavy price in their community.”

The two victims came from troubled backgrounds and wanted to feel grown-up when they were befriended by the men, who groomed them by showering them with inexpensive gifts such as alcohol, DVDs, food and occasionally drugs.

While aged just 12 or 13, child A was passed between some 60 mainly Asian men for sex after being conditioned into thinking it was normal behaviour, jurors were told. The vast majority of the charges related to this child, while three charges related to girl B.

During the trial, the prosecutor, Oliver Saxby QC, told the jury that the youngsters were “easy prey for a group of men wanting casual sexual gratification that was easy, regular and readily available”.

He said the girls’ ideas of what was right had been “completely distorted”, and that they thought what was happening was normal and natural.

Many of the defendants were friends from the Aylesbury area. Some were married and had children, with some working at the market and a few working as taxi drivers.

Singh, 45, from Aylesbury, who has a wife and children, was told by Bevan he bore a heavy responsibility for the “degradation” of child A. He was jailed for a total of 17-and-a-half years for four counts of rape and administering a substance with intent.

Hussain, 33, from Milton Keynes, who was convicted of three counts of rape, was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years.

Jani, 33, from Aylesbury, received 13 years for rape and conspiracy to rape. The court heard the bus driver had supported a wife and 17-month-old daughter in Pakistan.

Imran, 38, from Bradford, was convicted of three counts of rape, one count of conspiracy to rape and one count of child prostitution. The Pakistani national was jailed for 19-and-a-half years and faces deportation afterwards. He was the only defendant to express remorse for his actions, saying through his lawyer he felt “guilt and shame” for what he had done.

Akbari Khan, 36, from Aylesbury, who was found guilty of two counts of rape, administering a substance with intent, and conspiracy to rape, was jailed for 16 years. He too has a wife and young daughter.

Taimoor Khan, 29, also from Aylesbury, was sentenced to three years in prison for one count of sexual activity with a child.

Afterwards, it emerged that child B is suing Buckinghamshire county council for negligence resulting in the unnecessary suffering of the victims.





In a statement, she said that “no sentence could ever put right what happened”, but added: “It’s an opportunity for all of us to say to the government and to social services, whose job it is to protect vulnerable people, that it is time to sit down and listen to our experiences, and I mean actually listen and reflect on what is happening in this country.

“This would go a long way in helping them to be able to understand the problems that exist, to enable them to prevent things like this from happening to others in the future.”

Her solicitor, Alan Collins, added: “It is without doubt that if social services had done more to protect the victims and spotted the crucial signs that something was wrong, we wouldn’t be here today.

“However, the sentencing of these individuals does not make up for the failings. As a consequence, we will now be taking legal action against Buckinghamshire county council for their negligence in this case, which resulted in the unnecessary suffering of these victims.”





Javed Khan, chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, which has supported the victims, said: “These sentences send out an important message: abusers will pay for their actions. Their crimes have had a devastating impact on their victims.



“We will continue to work with Thames Valley police, Buckinghamshire county council and our other partners to stamp out this terrible crime, by raising awareness of the signs a child or young person is being sexually exploited, and supporting victims.”