Five men appeared before Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 36 charges related to so-called child grooming.

The alleged offences relate to two girls aged under 16 and one aged under 18, whose identities are protected for life. They are said to have been committed between 2017 and January 2019, according to a local report by NottinghamshireLive and a BBC report filed in the Nottingham sub-section of the England sub-section of the publicly-funded media outlet’s UK news coverage.

The accused men are:

20-year-old Mohammed Saeed Ahmed, 20, of Vale Crescent South, Nottingham, accused of 11 charges including sexual communication with a child, requesting photographs of a sexual nature from a girl, and raping a girl aged 15.

25-year-old Hamza Shazad, of Ewart Road, Forest Fields, accused of 11 charges including two counts of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, making and distributing indecent images of children, and being in possession of an extreme pornographic image portraying a sex act with an animal.

29-year-old Ansar Ahmed, 29, of Radford Road, Nottingham, accused of six charges, namely meeting or communicating with a 13-year-old girl for sexual activity, two counts of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, two counts of meeting a girl following grooming, and sexual communication with a child.

24-year-old Waqas Akhtar, of no fixed abode but required to sleep at an address on Glentworth Road by the court, accused of six charges including two counts of sexual activity with a girl, sexually touching a 14-year-old girl, meeting a girl after grooming, and sexual communication with a girl.

26-year-old Waqar Akhtar, of Glentworth Road, Nottingham, accused of two charges, namely taking a child out of care without lawful authority and taking a child under 16 away from someone who had lawful responsibility for them.

District Judge Tim Spruce released all of the accused men on bail, with the proviso that they first hand over their passports, sleep at particular addresses, and not have any contact with children under the age of 16.

“You know the charges you face individually. Some of those charges can only be dealt with at the crown court,” he said.

“You will have to go to the crown court on December 5th. Be there at 9:30 am so you can be before the judge at 10 am. Keep in touch with your solicitors, so you are fully prepared for the crown court hearing.”

They have not entered any pleas.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery