DURING a four-month trial at the Old Bailey a jury heard how the Bullfinch gang raped, prostituted and sexually abused young girls in Oxford Opening the case in January 2013, prosecutor Noel Lucas QC said: “This case concerns the sexual exploitation and corruption of children.”

The jury was told the gang’s six victims were from troubled home lives and relished the “insincere” attention the men gave them.

Mr Lucas said they became addicted to the drugs the men gave them and dependent on their abusers.

Then the gang began to rape them and arrange for them to be raped by their friends and strangers in exchange for money.

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The first witness, known as Girl 2, told the jury how she was drugged, raped and taken across the city for sex.

Girl 1 cried as she watched a police video interview of her 15-yearold self telling an officer she was treated like a “piece of meat”.

She said there was a “pack mentality” among “customers” who choked and scratched her, adding that men came from across the country to have sex with her.

Girl 3 told the trial how Mohammed Karrar got her addicted to crack cocaine and told her: “You will do what I say because you are mine.”

She sobbed as she described how she thought she would die as Bassam Karrar choked and beat her in a “brutal rape” at the Nanford Guest House.

Girl 4 said Mohammed Karrar made her have sex aged 12 with other men – charging them up to £600 – to prove she loved him.

On May 9 the jury retired to consider its verdict and on May 13 it found seven of the defendants guilty.

Judge Peter Rook said they put their victims through “sheer torture” and subjected them to “truly evil” abuse and sentenced the gang to a total of 95 years.

He handed five of the defendants – brothers Akhtar and Anjum Dogar, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar and Kamar Jamil – life sentences.

Judge Rook told the seven men: “You have been found guilty of a series of sexual crimes of the utmost gravity, the exploitation and abuse of young highly vulnerable girls in the Oxford area over a very long period of time.”

In June last year Bilal Ahmed – who was cleared during the Old Bailey trial – was convicted at Oxford Crown Court of sexually assaulting a pregnant teenager.

His cousin Zeeshan Ahmed was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he tried to stop the girl talking to police.

Mustafa Ahmed was also convicted of sexually assaulting the same girl on the same date.

And Tilal Mahdi, who was also arrested by Operation Bullfinch detectives, was found guilty last month of a string of sexual offences against two girls.

The ten men found guilty.

  • AKHTAR DOGAR, then 32, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17 years. He was found guilty of five rapes, three counts of conspiracy to rape, two counts of arranging child prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • ANJUM DOGAR, then 31, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17 years. He was convicted of three rapes, three counts of conspiracy to rape, two counts of arranging child prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • MOHAMMED KARRAR, then 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years. He was found guilty of seven rapes, four charges of conspiracy to rape, two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, two counts of arranging child prostitution, a serious sexual assault, using an instrument to procure a miscarriage and supplying heroin.
  • BASSAM KARRAR, then 33, of Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years. He was convicted of three rapes, three counts of conspiracy to rape, two counts of arranging child prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • KAMAR JAMIL, then 27, of Aldrich Road, North Oxford, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 12 years. He was found guilty of five rapes, two counts of conspiracy to rape, and arranging child prostitution.
  • ASSAD HUSSAIN, then 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, was jailed for seven years after being convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child.
  • ZEESHAN AHMED, then 27, of Palmer Road in Wood Farm also received seven years after he was found guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child. He was later given a further 18 months when he was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice.
  • BILAL AHMED, then 27, from Maidenhead, was jailed for threeand- a-half years after he was convicted of two counts of sexual assault.
  • MUSTAFA AHMED, then 26, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 18 months after he was found guilty of one count of sexual assault.
  • TILAL MAHDI, 36, of Friars Street, Hereford, was found guilty of a serious sexual assault, two counts of conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to indecently assault, trafficking and arranging or facilitating child prostitution.

Kingfisher team provides a joined-up approach.

SUPT Christian Bunt, Local Policing Area Commander for Oxford, spoke of the work that has been done to tackle child sexual exploitation in the wake of the Bullfinch investigation.

He highlighted the £1m Kingfisher team based at Cowley police station, which was set up in 2012, and said preventing child sexual exploitation was “the number one priority” for the Oxford police area.

The Kingfisher team is made up of staff from Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council.

Supt Bunt said: “We have been working closely with our partners and the community to ensure that we have measures in place to identify and prevent child sexual exploitation in the city. We have established the Kingfisher team where police officers sit side-by-side with social workers and colleagues from health. This means we can pick up on problems earlier, work together and are in a better position to identify potential victims.

“We have delivered training to all frontline officers and staff to make sure the signs of CSE are picked up as soon as possible, and regularly run disruption patrols around hotspots.

“This means we are in a better position than ever to identify, prevent and investigate CSE.”

Supt Bunt added that officers also targeted likely locations, including hotels, and operated disruption patrols in parks and other meeting places where young people congregate.

He added: “I am confident that we are doing everything we can to safeguard children from sexual exploitation.”