Published at 11:12, Thursday, 17 May 2012

A SEXUAL predator who paid underage girls for sex and ran a brothel from his kebab shop has been jailed for 15 years.

jailed: Azad Miah

Azad Miah, who ran the former Spice of India takeaway on Botchergate, Carlisle, and formerly ran a takeaway in Whitehaven, stood with his head bowed in the dock at Carlisle Crown Court as Judge Peter Hughes QC sentenced him on Tuesday morning.

Judge Hughes said: “Azad Miah, you have been convicted after a three-week trial and careful consideration of all the evidence by the jury, of corrupting and degrading sexual exploitation over a number of years below the veil of a seemingly respectable business.

“You preyed on vulnerable young girls, girls as young as 12, who were from troubled and chaotic home backgrounds. You sought to draw them into a life of drug dependency and sleazy sex for money.

“Your conduct corrodes the foundations of decency and respect by which all right-thinking people live their lives, whatever their ethnic or religious background. Carlisle is a close-knit city with a strong sense of community.

“This case had aroused considerable local interest and concern, shock that this sort of thing happened in Carlisle.”

Miah was also ordered to register with the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and banned from working with children.

The Bangladeshi dad-of-four hounded vulnerable young girls – aged 12 to 16 – for sex by texting, calling and following them, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Miah, 44, was convicted on Monday of paying for the sexual services of two teenage girls. He was also found guilty of inciting four girls – including a 12-year-old – into prostitution. He paid them money for sex in return for food, sweets and a place to hang out.

Miah showed no emotion as a jury of six men and six women returned 10 unanimous guilty verdicts on an 18-count charge sheet.

A 12-year-old girl told the court that she complained to police about Miah three years before his eventual arrest. The girl said she eventually gave up talking to the police in 2008 because nothing was being done.

She was asked at the start of her police interview if she knew why she was being questioned. She said: “Because of something that happened three years ago and now youse have finally decided to do summat about it.”

Miah texted her 50 times a day, repeatedly asking for sex, and told her he knew where she lived so she may as well have intercourse with him. He said he was not bothered about her age and would give her money.

Cumbria Police did not launch its investigation into Miah though until Christmas 2010 following a disclosure by one of his victims to one of its ‘partnership agencies’ about claims of child prostitution at the Spice of India.

After those initial 2008 complaints, Miah continued to commit sexual offences until his arrest in March 2011.

Throughout the trial, Miah denied all of the charges against him.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk