A GANG of Asian men have been found guilty of sexually exploiting three teenage girls in scandal-hit Rotherham.

The eight men, including four members of the same family, were convicted of all 19 counts, including rape, indecent assault and false imprisonment.

1 Top row left to right: Mohammed Whied, Waleed Ali, Asif Ali; middle row left to right: Sageer Hussain, Ishtiaq Khaliq; bottom row left to right: Basharat Hussain, Masoued Malik, Naeem Rafiq Credit: PA:Press Association

Ringleader Sageer Hussain, 30, openly boasted he was racist and told his distraught 13-year-old white victim: "All white girls are good for is sex and they are just sl*gs."

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said the victims were "targeted, sexualised and in some instances subjected to attacks of a degrading and violent nature at the hands of these men".

She said: "These were local girls - some had perfectly normal lives but were lured by the excitement and friendship of older Asian males."

Sageer Hussain played a key role in "befriending young girls who were flattered that he and his friends wanted to spend time with them", Ms Colborne said.

During the trial, a jury heard the main complainant, who is now aged 27, originally made two complaints to police when she was just 13.

However no action was ever taken as South Yorkshire Police lost her clothing and failed to carry out a scientific examination, despite her family writing to then Home Secretary David Blunkett about the abuse.

She told police in April and October 2003 that she had been raped and physically attacked by Sageer Hussain.

She eventually asked for the case to be dropped after her family were subjected to threats by the gang.

Ms Colborne said: "The girl and her family were being subjected to threats and intimidation by those men and were very frightened.

"They sought help from social services and the police.

"They wrote to their Member of Parliament and the Home Secretary."

RELATED STORIES PROBE EXPERT OUT Westminster child sex abuse inquiry in tatters as another top human rights specialist quits CHILD SEX PROBE FIASCO Home Office knew about judge 'racism' concerns that forced child sex abuse inquiry resignation 'HE RUINED MY LIFE' Brave sex abuse victim slams her pervert attacker as he is caged for seven years 'LEGACY OF FAILURE' Child sex abuse inquiry will 'continue without delay' despite Dame Lowell Goddard quitting SURVIVORS' WELCOME APPOINTMENT Troubled child sex abuse inquiry hires respected expert Alexis Jay

Ms Colborne said the family eventually had to move away from South Yorkshire to Spain to get away from the abuse.

Sheffield Crown Court heard she later worked with victims of sexual exploitation and wrote a book about the subject, as well as appearing in a TV documentary.

Ms Colborne said the woman went back to the police in 2013 to reaffirm the allegations she had made a decade previously.

The trial heard Hussain used the main complainant for "his own gratification and passed her to friends, older brothers and associates".

Hussain's cousins Mohammed Whied and Asif Ali, as well as his older brother Basharat Hussain, were also involved in the gang's abuse of the girl.

Ms Colborne added: "In the space of months, she had gone from being a normal happy child from a stable supportive family to one who was secretive and distant.

"Her mother watched her daughter change from a loving, lovely girl to one she describes as horrible and she was powerless to control it."

Ms Colborne said the girl live a "life of deceit and fear" after being lured into it by the gang.

She said: "They told her she owed them something because they had given her cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis.

"As time moved on, the threats became nasty in nature. They threatened to gang-rape her mother and they made it clear they were serious."

Ms Colborne said on one occasion, two of the defendants - Masoued Malik and Naeem Rafiq - took the girl to the flat of a man described by the girl as a 'Kosovan refugee' called Zalgai Ahmadi where she was forced to perform sex acts on a number of men.

Other incidents occurred in an alleyway by Boots in Rotherham town centre and at Clifton Park in the town.

Sageer Hussain, 30, was found guilty of four rapes and one indecent assault.

Ishtiaq Khaliq, 33, was convicted of one rape and three indecent assaults.

Waleed Ali, 34, was convicted of one rape and one indecent assault.

Asif Ali, 30, was found guilty of rape.

Masoued Malik, 32, was found guilty of rape, conspiracy to commit indecent assault and false imprisonment.

Naeem Rafiq, 33, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment.

Mohammed Whied, 32, was convicted of aiding and abetting rape.

The men, all from Rotherham, will be sentenced on November 4 along with Basharat Hussain, 40, from Goole, East Yorks, who was convicted of indecent assault.

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, said following the verdicts: "I would firstly like to state my absolute admiration and thanks to the survivors for coming forward.

"These young women have been trying for years to be heard, now a judge, and indeed the country, has heard the horror you endured and justice has been served.

"Their courage and bravery will inspire others and we should all be grateful for that."

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368