Mohammed Romaan Liaqat

Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, 28, from Derby and married with children, was identified alongside Abid Mohammed Saddique as a leader in a gang convicted of sexually abusing vulnerable girls in Derby. The offences came to light through Derbyshire Police's undercover Operation Retriever, which involved three trials from February 2010 and exposed the abuse of 26 victims, predominantly schoolgirls from various backgrounds, some as young as 12.

Liaqat was convicted of one count of rape, two counts of sexual assault, aiding and abetting rape, affray, and four counts of sexual activity with a child. The gang's modus operandi included a 'campaign of calls and texts' to target girls, followed by plying them with alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes, leading to forced sexual encounters at 'parties' or isolated locations. Prosecutor Yvonne Coen QC stated at Nottingham Crown Court: 'They exploited these girls either for their own sexual satisfaction or for their friends.' The case drew parallels to grooming scandals in Rotherham, with police urging parental awareness of sexual exploitation risks.

Additional convictions for Liaqat and Saddique included pleading guilty to causing a person under 18 to be involved in pornography. Sentencing was set for 7 January 2011, after the guilty verdicts on 25 November 2010. The court heard detailed accounts, such as a 16-year-old victim's testimony of a 2008 rape, underscoring the coercive nature of the abuses. Coen emphasised the victims' vulnerability: 'The girls involved in the case were young and however cool and grown-up they may have wanted to be or intended to appear, in fact they were naive and impressionable.'

• Convictions: 1x rape, 2x sexual assault, aiding and abetting rape, affray, 4x sexual activity with a child.
• Additional plea: Causing a person under 18 to be involved in pornography.
• Context: Involved 13 charged men, 11 on trial, with offences spanning non-sexual charges but centring on sexual exploitation of minors.