Shah Joman Miah

Three brothers, known as the Miah brothers, were convicted in October 2024 for a prolonged campaign of grooming and sexually abusing young girls in Leeds and Barrow-in-Furness between 1996 and 2010. Shah Joman Miah, aged 38, was heavily involved in these child sex offences, committing numerous acts of rape and abuse against young victims.

The abuse perpetrated by Shah Joman Miah and his brothers, Shaha Amran Miah and Shaha Alman Miah, involved dozens of offences, with the brothers operating as a coordinated unit described by prosecutors as 'Team Miah'. They prioritised family loyalty over truth, backing each other's denials and attempting to discredit witnesses during the trial at Preston Crown Court.

Shah Joman Miah was convicted of 40 separate offences, including nine counts of child rape. Alongside Shaha Amran Miah, he sexually abused two young children at a mosque in Leeds over several years, beginning when the victims were just seven years old. The brothers also targeted vulnerable young girls, abusing them at their flat above a takeaway restaurant in Barrow-in-Furness.

During sentencing on Friday, 21 February 2025, Judge Unsworth addressed the brothers, stating: 'I am satisfied each of you acted in a predatory and paedophilic manner. You saw your victims as vehicles to be used and abused at will. You treated them with utter contempt. You were each aware at different times of each other's sexual proclivities and conduct. The bonds that tie you three together are strong and it would appear, unbreakable. There was an omerta. What you were all doing was taking away childhoods.' This highlights the calculated and familial nature of their crimes.

The case was investigated by Cumbria Police, with the convictions underscoring a dark period of child exploitation in the affected communities. Shah Joman Miah's actions contributed to the destruction of multiple childhoods through systematic rape and grooming.