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Twenty nine people facing a total of more than 170 charges relating to the sexual exploitation of 18 children will go on trial next year in three separate groups, a judge has ruled. Twenty six men and two women appeared before a judge at Leeds Crown Court charged with offences including rape, trafficking, sexual activity with a child, child neglect, child abduction, supplying drugs and making of indecent images of children. The 29th defendant, who is in custody, did not appear for the hearing on Thursday. The defendants were greeted by protesters outside the court building, where a number of police were on duty. The allegations are non-recent sexual offences, dating back to between 2004 and 2011, and relate to 18 women, who were children at the time. The youngest child involved was 11 years old. The defendants, who are mainly from Huddersfield but also include men from Dudley, Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, and Dewsbury, appeared in groups before the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC.
Judge Collier ruled that the cases will be heard in three separate trials starting in January. The first trial, expected to last 10 weeks, has a provisional start date of January 8, 2018. The second trial, expected to last six weeks, is planned to start on April 16, 2018. The third trial, which is expected to last four weeks, has the provisional start date of September 3, 2018. The next hearings in each of the cases are: October 27, 2017; March 2, 2018 and June 1, 2018.
Formal pleas have not yet been entered and all the defendants were given bail except two – Mansoor Akhtar and Manzoor Hassan, who were remanded in custody. Akhtar did not appear in court.The defendants in the first trial are:Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 34, of Huddersfield is charged with 54 offences. He is charged with 21 counts of rape, 14 counts of trafficking, as well as inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault, sexual touching, possession of indecent images of a child, racially aggravated assault and inciting a child into prostitution.
Irfan Ahmed, 32, of Huddersfield. He is charged with six counts of trafficking, sexual assault, making indecent images of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Zahid Hassan, 28, of Huddersfield. He is charged with eight counts of rape, five counts of trafficking, racially aggravated assault, supplying drugs, inciting a child into sexual activity, child abduction and attempted rape.
Mohammed Kammer, 32, of Huddersfield. He is charged with two counts of rape.
Mohammed Aslam, 29, of Dewsbury. He is charged with two counts of rape.
Abdul Rehman, 29, of Sheffield. He is charged with rape, trafficking, supplying drugs, supply of a controlled substance with intent to engage in sexual activity and sexual touching.
Raj Singh Barsran, 33, of Huddersfield. He is charged with sexual touching and rape.
Nahman Mohammad, 31, of Huddersfield. He is charged with trafficking, sexual assault, and two counts of rape.
Zubair Ahmed, 30, of Huddersfield. He is charged with rape and possession of extreme pornography.
Hamzha Ali Saleem, 37, of Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. He is charged with three counts of trafficking.
The defendants in the second trial are:
Mansoor Akhtar, 25, of Huddersfield. He is charged with rape, attempted rape and two counts of trafficking.
Mohammed Akram, 31, of Huddersfield. He is charged with seven counts of rape, three counts of trafficking, child abduction, supplying drugs, sexual assault and making threats to kill.
Wiqas Mahmud, 36, of Huddersfield. He is charged with three counts of rape.
Nasarat Hussain, 28, of Huddersfield. He is charged with three counts of rape, attempted rape and inciting a female to engage in sexual activity.
Sajid Hussain, 32, of Huddersfield. He is charged with three counts of rape, facilitating the commission of sexual activity on a child and inciting a child into sexual activity.
Mohammad Ifraz, 28, of Huddersfield. He is charged with trafficking a female within the UK with a view to her sexual exploitation, rape, false imprisonment, child abduction, taking indecent images of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Faisal Nadeem, 30, of Huddersfield. He is charged with supplying drugs, rape and possession of extreme pornography.
Mohammad Azeem, 31, of Bradford. He is charged with three counts of rape.
Zulqarnain Dogar, 29, of Huddersfield. He is charged with sexual touching and trafficking.
Manzoor Hassan, 37, of Huddersfield. He is charged with supply of a noxious substance with intent to injure, annoy or aggrieve a female, supply of Class A drugs and inciting a child into prostitution.
The defendants in the thirds trial are:
Niaz Ahmed, 53, of Slaithwaite, Huddersfield. He is charged with inciting a child into sexual activity and sexual assault.
Mohammed Imran Ibrar, 32, of Huddersfield. He is charged with trafficking, facilitating the commission of sexual activity on a child, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, supplying drugs.
Asif Bashir, 32, of Huddersfield. He is charged with four counts of rape and attempted rape.
Everton La Bastide, 50, of Huddersfield. He is charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Saqib Raheel, 30, of Dudley. He is charged with trafficking and child abduction.
Usman Khalid, 29, of Huddersfield. He is charged with sexual assault, child abduction and sexual touching.
Aleem Javaid, 27, of Huddersfield. He is charged with rape and supplying drugs.
Naveeda Habib, 38, of Huddersfield. She is charged with one count of child neglect.
Shahnaz Akhtar-Malik, 55, of Huddersfield. She is charged with one count of child neglect.
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