POLICE must be praised for bringing to justice the men who so wickedly sexually abused a vulnerable girl in Keighley with five of them at one time lining up to rape her in turn when she was aged only 13 and 14.

This is a very dark corner of society which desperately needs a light shining on it.

Rumours of this kind of activity have circulated for years and Keighley MP Kris Hopkins has now gone further by describing the town as being at the “top of the list” for the sex grooming of white girls by Asian gangs.

GANG WHO RAPED AND ABUSED VULNERABLE KEIGHLEY SCHOOLGIRL LOCKED UP FOR MORE THAN 140 YEARS

But there is always a danger, of course, that these type of allegations can be too easily dismissed, perhaps because the young ages of the victims means their testimonies are disregarded, or maybe due to political correctness owing to the ethnicities of those accused of carrying out the abuse.

This horrific case, however, starkly underscores why this type of child abuse must always be taken seriously with any such allegations being investigated thoroughly so police can be absolutely sure that there is no truth in them before they are dismissed.

And it was a telling factor in this trial that the sheer persistence of a dedicated team of police officers led to the gathering of damning evidence against these 12 men which yesterday resulted in total sentences of more than 140 years being handed out by the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas.

The extensive publicity generated by these prosecutions should mean that there is even greater awareness of this type of abuse in the future.

  • If anyone has any concerns about the safety of a child or a young person in the Bradford district they should contact West Yorkshire Police through 101, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, the Children’s Services Initial Contact Point on 01274 437500 or NSPCC Child Protection helpline on 0808 800 5000.​