Grooming gang offenders should receive full-life prison sentences, Robert Jenrick has said as he requested a review into “disgracefully short” punishments handed to three men.
The shadow justice secretary told MPs he had written to the Attorney General, the UK Government’s chief legal adviser, about three members of a grooming gang that had targeted two teenage girls in West Yorkshire in the 1990s.
Mr Jenrick said he had asked Lord Hermer to assess whether the jail terms were “potentially unduly lenient”.
Ibrar Hussain, 47; Imtiaz Ahmed, 62; and Fayaz Ahmed, 45, were sent to prison for six-and-a-half years, nine years, and seven-and-a-half years respectively at Bradford Crown Court earlier this month, by a judge who described how they raped one of the girls in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the 1990s, when she was 13 or 14.
Speaking at justice questions, Mr Jenrick told the House of Commons: “Two weeks ago, three grooming gang members were sentenced for the most appalling rapes of children at Bradford Crown Court, but they only received six, seven and nine-year sentences respectively.
“Six years, out on licence in four, for the rape of a child. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that these sentences are disgracefully short and will she commit to using the sentencing review to mandate full-life sentences for these evil people?
“If she will, she’ll have our support.”
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “We have a shared objective in making sure that these evil individuals feel the full force of the law.
“He will understand that I will not comment on individual sentencing decisions. I’d hope that is a decision that (Mr Jenrick) might also wish to reflect upon – it is not appropriate, given our collective commitment to the independence of the judiciary.”
Ms Mahmood added: “We will be legislating to make grooming an aggravating factor and this Government will make sure that victims get the justice they deserve.”
Mr Jenrick continued: “I have written to the Attorney General asking him to review those sentences as potentially unduly lenient.
“But two of the men sentenced at Bradford Crown Court for grooming gang offences were absent. They are thought to have absconded abroad.
“Can the Justice Secretary confirm how many grooming gang defendants the Government is currently pursuing overseas and what efforts are being made by the Government with, in this case, the Pakistani authorities, using every lever of the British state to locate these evil men and get justice for the victims?”
Ms Mahmood said she would write to Mr Jenrick about the case he had raised, adding: “We have international agreements and arrangements with other jurisdictions to ensure that offenders can be brought back to face justice in this country.
“I’m sure that those arrangements are being applied appropriately.”
Ms Mahmood earlier told MPs that recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse were “ignored for far too long”.
Asked what the Ministry of Justice was doing “to ensure that people convicted of charges related to grooming gangs receive adequate sentences”, Ms Mahmood said that Tory former minister Sir John Hayes had made “a very important point on these heinous gangs and the crimes that they commit”, with his question.
She continued: “The 20 recommendations made by Alexis Jay in her Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse were ignored for far too long. This Government is working at pace to respond to them.
“We will also legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, ensuring that the punishment fits these horrific crimes.”
Sir John criticised the Government’s plan for a rapid audit in Bradford as a process “by which authorities mark their own homework”.
He asked: “So will the Justice Secretary agree to a wide-ranging review of these matters with statutory powers, for surely, those whose lives have been ruined … deserve more than the weak reticence of people with power who refuse to face the facts?”
Ms Mahmood said she would ensure “concerns are passed on to” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, adding: “I hope he and I will have a shared objective in being clear that there is desire on all sides of this House to make sure we face the full facts and the victims of these heinous crimes get the justice that they deserve.”
