Girl 1

‘We hope publicity will lead to action’

"THIS has been a long and harrowing trial for our family to bear.

We are so pleased that the brave young girls who gave evidence have seen justice and we want to thank each one of them for finding the strength to give evidence.

They have conducted themselves in a courageous and dignified manner, including our daughter, and we thank them.

We were a happy family, living in a good area. We never imagined this could be possible and we want to make other parents and carers aware that this type of crime can happen anywhere.

It’s not about location, it’s about the perpetrators. It isn’t about affluence or poverty – these men deliberately targeted and groomed our daughter regardless of our family background. They took her from us and we will never get those lost years back.

It is important that every single one of us is vigilant and observant of children’s behaviour and we urge anyone with any concerns to follow their instincts and come forward. If you have any concerns at all, tell someone before it’s too late.

We truly hope that the publicity this case has created will ensure changes are made in child protection laws and we are looking forward to working with the Serious Case Review.

We also want to thank the jury for sitting through such a harrowing trial. They were called upon to do their civic duty and we truly appreciate how attentively they listened to the disturbing details every day. The 18-week trial must have completely disrupted their lives and we thank them for their patience.

We would also like to thank the court staff and witness care teams, many of whom are voluntary, who made some very difficult days bearable.

Judge Rook did not allow the defence barristers to over-complicate the questions and we were impressed by his professionalism.

And we would like to pay tribute to the investigation team, who carefully put the case together. It can take a long time for the police to build relationships with victims and get such a complex case to court. It takes enormous amounts of time to build the trust of young girls who have suffered awful abuse on this scale.

We now ask that you allow us to get on with our lives."

Girl 3

‘My girl is vindicated by these sentences’

A MUM of a child sex ring victim said the hefty sentences have helped her daughter realise the abuse was not her fault.

The mother, who adopted Girl 3 aged 11, said it was important to her daughter that society had recognised that what the “depraved men” did to her was wrong.

Mohammed and Bassam Karrar, and Akhtar and Anjum Dogar, were all given life sentences for abusing Girl 3 and other children.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail after the sentencing, the mum said: “I kind of hoped it might be life but I didn’t expect five of them to get life sentences.

“It’s a relief and a vindication because of the stance that has been taken against them.

“It’s only when you hear that, that you realise just how serious it was.”

She said: “Sitting there listening to the judge reading out every offence – horrific offences – against these children, it reduced me to tears.”

But she said: “It does not really undo the damage that has been done.

“Hopefully it helps them to draw a line under it and to realise just how bad what happened to them was.

“It’s only with the trial and the sentences that she [Girl 3] has realised just how serious it was.

“And the fact that decent members of society have highlighted what happened and can stand up to them [the abusers].”

In a victim impact statement read in court on Wednesday, the mother described how gang members had threatened to seriously harm her, her daughter, and her daughter’s baby.

Yesterday the mum said her daughter was “very distressed” in court.

Yet she said she was “hugely relieved” that society had shown how unacceptable the abuse was. She added: “It was not these girls’ fault, it was these depraved men.”

She also said her daughter now had a job and hoped she could begin to move on.

She said: “The biggest thing will be learning to trust people, in particular men, in personal relationships, and overcoming the sense of shame which she shouldn’t feel, but does.”

And the mother said “being believed” will have helped her daughter, but added: “She will never get over it.”

Girl 5

Gang ‘ripped her life apart’

A MUM has said her young daughter’s life was “ripped apart” by the child sex ring.

Girl 5, who was the youngest victim to give evidence, is still living more than 80 miles away from home in secure accommodation.

But her mother said the 16-year-old wanted to come back to her Oxford home.

Girl 5 was abused by Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, 28, when she was aged between 14 and 15 from 2010 to 2012.

She was taken into care in 2010 while the gang were abusing her.

Her mother told the Oxford Mail she had been the “teacher’s pet” before she moved on to secondary school and a friend introduced her to the gang.

The 48-year-old said the teen quickly changed and would go missing all night. Once she returned with bite marks on her neck, she said.

Her mum said: “It’s ripped her life apart that she cannot live at home because she has to be in a secure accommodation to protect her from these people.”

Yet she said she was “proud” of her for giving the evidence that convicted the two men.

She said: “She didn’t want to open up. Those wounds are still there and fresh.”

The trial heard that victims had told police and social services they were being abused by older men.

And Girl 5’s mum said the police and social workers had not done their jobs properly and the abuse should have been stopped earlier.

She said: “They let me down.

“If I had known at the time I may be could have helped her and stopped her from suffering.

“Sometimes I reported her missing and police didn’t come for hours and hours. I am so angry, so mad at the way they dealt with stuff.”