FOUR men jailed last month for grooming and raping a vulnerable girl, could have their sentences increased.

A challenge has been made over the combined 49 year sentence for the men, aged between 30 and 42, who were jailed over multiple counts of raping the same girl, between March 2009 and March 2010.

An application has been made to the Attorney General’s office over the jail term given to Hassan Basharat, Baber Hussain, Omar Safdar, and Imran Sabir at Bradford Crown Court last month.

The bid was made under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme which allows members of the public to ask for certain sentences to be reviewed. If this first stage is successful, the Court of Appeal will review the length of the sentences and could increase one or all of them.

Basharat, 32, of Highfield Road, Keighley, was jailed for 12 years for one count of rape and conspiring to rape with one of his co-defendants, Imran Sabir.

Hussain, 36, of Thorn Lane, Heaton, was jailed for 13 years for seven counts of rape.

Safdar, 30, who was already in prison, was jailed for 12 years for three counts of rape. He raped the victim in her own home on one occasion despite her asking him not to attend.

Sabir, 42, of Spencer Street, Keighley, was jailed for 12 years for one count of rape, and conspiring to rape with Basharat.

Four men jailed for grooming and raping vulnerable girl, 15

The men would rape the same girl, described as 'extremely troubled and tormented', either individually, or together, often plying her with alcohol. They drove the girl to parks, flats and isolated places in the Keighley area, where they raped her.

The sexually exploited girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aged 15 at the time she was raped by the men.

The group were convicted following a seven-week trial, which ended in October last year.

Basharat was also jailed for a further eight months each for two charges of dangerous driving, in Reading, Berkshire, and Saltaire, in April 2020 and January 2021 respectively. This took his total sentence to 13 years and four months.

The sentencing of a fifth man, Amjad Hussain, 35, of Adar Street, Keighley, also convicted of three charges of rape, was adjourned until March 15 as he did not have legal representation for the February hearing.

Judge Andrew Hatton said in sentencing that the men had "preyed upon her vulnerability".

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