Rochdale grooming gang ringleader jailed for 35 years

A grooming gang ringleader who raped two schoolgirls in Rochdale has been jailed for 35 years.

Mohammed Zahid, 65, known as Boss Man, gave the girls free underwear from his market stall in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.

The father-of-three was one of seven men convicted in June of committing a raft of sexual offences against the girls between 2001 and 2006.

The girls were sexually exploited from the age of 13 in filthy flats, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses in the Greater Manchester town.

Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard the victims, referred to as Girl A and Girl B, were treated as "sex slaves" and expected to "have sex with the men whenever and wherever they wanted".

Both girls had "deeply troubled home lives" and were plied with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes and given places to stay by the men, the court was told.

The prosecution said the girls were abused, degraded and then "discarded" by the paedophiles, who worked either at the market or as taxi drivers.

Girl A told the jury she may have been preyed on by hundreds of men as her phone number was passed around, adding "there was that many it was hard to keep count".

She told local children's services in 2004 that she was "hanging around" with groups of older men, drinking and smoking cannabis, the court heard.