LONDON (Diya TV) — A jury has convicted seven men for the sexual abuse of two underage girls in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006, reigniting national fury over the UK’s long-running grooming gang crisis and the systemic failures that allowed it to persist.

After a four-month trial and three weeks of deliberation, the Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court delivered unanimous guilty verdicts for 50 separate offences. The victims, referred to as Girl A and Girl B, described years of harrowing abuse in filthy flats, alleyways, abandoned buildings, and cars — under the very noses of social workers and local authorities.

“These seven men preyed on vulnerability for their own depraved sexual gain,” said DCI Guy Laycock, the senior investigating officer. “They abused, degraded and then discarded the victims when they were just children… They continue to show no remorse for their unforgivable actions all these years later.”

The case, part of Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Lytton — a wide-ranging investigation into historic child sexual exploitation in the region — has now led to 37 individuals being charged. Five more trials are scheduled to begin in September.

Three of the convicted men — Mohammed Zahid (64), Mushtaq Ahmed (67), and Kasir Bashir (50) — were Pakistani-born stallholders at Rochdale’s indoor market. Bashir absconded while on bail before the trial; Zahid had previously been jailed in 2016 for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old.

Four other defendants — including three Rochdale-born taxi drivers — were remanded in January following police intelligence that they were preparing to flee the country. Another convicted abuser, Roheez Khan (39), had previously served time for exploiting a “profoundly vulnerable” 15-year-old in a related 2013 case.

The prosecution argued that the girls — who came from deeply troubled home environments — were manipulated and exploited over years by a network of abusers who used alcohol, cigarettes, and temporary shelter to maintain control. Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC told the court that authorities knew about the abuse but failed to intervene. Girl B was labeled a “prostitute” by social workers at just 10 years old. “They said I was prostituting myself… I don’t remember them being concerned enough to do anything about it,” she told the court.

Girl A testified that she may have been exploited by more than 200 men. “There was that many, it was hard to keep count,” she said.

The political fallout was swift. Responding to the verdict, MP Robert Jenrick called for full life sentences for those convicted and for immediate deportation of foreign nationals upon completion of their sentences. “Justice has taken far too long for too many victims,” he said, criticizing what he described as “lenient sentencing” and lack of political will.

As public scrutiny once again returns to the institutions tasked with child protection, many are asking how many more victims remain unheard —and how many more warnings must be ignored before systemic change finally arrives.