A grooming gang predominantly made up of Asian men has been jailed for a combined 277 years following a major investigation into abuse against girls as young as 12. 

Twenty people aged between 45 and 87 were snared following the investigation into offences committed in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, between 1995 and 2003. 

West Yorkshire Police said the gang had repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped the girls, some of whom were given class A drugs. 

A leading investigator in the case said the children had been treated as 'commodities for the gratification of heartless predators' - but praised the bravery of the survivors in coming forward to report the horrors they had endured.

Proceedings began at Leeds Crown Court in July 2023 but were spread across six separate criminal trials owing to the complexity of the investigation.

The last of the cases concluded in September 2024, with sentencing taking place last year. However, court orders have prevented the release of the details of those jailed until now. 

Among those jailed was Ansar Mahmood Qayum, 49, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for four rapes and an indecent assault in another case just over two years ago. 

He was given another 10 years for three further rapes and two further indecent assaults, taking his total prison time up to 30 years. 

The longest sentence was handed to monstrous Sajid Majid, 53, from Mirfield , for five offences of rape and three indecent assaults.

Manaf Hussain, 51, from Heckmondwike, was sentenced to 25 years for six counts of rape and supplying class A drugs; Tariq Azam, aged 57, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 24 years for five offences of rape and four offences of indecent assault.

Zulfiqar Ali, aged 47, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 22 years, six months for four offences of rape, while Aurrangzeb Azam, aged 56, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 20 years for ten offences of rape and an offence of indecent assault.

Shakeel Haq, aged 58, from Birmingham, was sentenced to 19 years for three offences of rape and an offence of false imprisonment; Rafiq Patel, aged 73, from Batley was sentenced to 18 years for two offences of rape.

Zaheed Ali Novsarka, aged 58, from Batley, was sentenced to 18 years for two offences of rape while Mohammed Sheikh, aged 53, from Batley, sentenced to 14 years for two offences of rape and two offences of indecent assault.

Mohammed Yasin, aged 52, from Batley, was sentenced to 14 years for an offence of rape and two indecent assaults; Liaquat Hussain Hanif, aged 49, from Batley, was given 12 years, six months for two rapes and for supplying Class A drugs.

Ebrahim Mananiat, aged 56, from Batley, sentenced to 12 years for two offences of rape. Ibrahim Khalifa, aged 87, from Bradford, will likely die in jail after being sentenced to 11 years for two offences of rape. 

Shafiq Siddique, aged 56, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 11 years for an offence of rape; Mohammed Munir Shaffi, aged 48 from Dewsbury, was sentenced to nine years for two offences of rape.

Mohammed Ishtiaq Hussain, aged 51, from Dewsbury, and Abbas Kaji, 57, from Batley, were sentenced to eight years and seven years respectively for an offence of rape.

Tasawar Hussain, aged 46, from Dewsbury, sentenced to three years for an offence of rape.

Donna Lynn, aged 45, from Cleckheaton, the only woman in the gang, was sentenced to three years for an offence of controlling prostitution.

Two other men were found by a court to have committed the acts they were charged with but were judged as unfit to enter pleas.

DCI Rob Stevens, of Kirklees District Police, said: 'This has been a major investigation into truly appalling sexual abuse of vulnerable girls in Kirklees by a large number of sexual predators.

'Over an almost two year period, juries have heard some shocking revelations about the dreadful way victims were abused by those involved.

'They were repeatedly sexually assaulted, in some cases given Class A drugs, and very much treated as commodities for the gratification of heartless predators.

'The very significant jailed terms given to some of these men, such as the 28-year sentence for Sajid Majid or the 20 year sentence handed to Aurrangzeb Azam who was found guilty of 10 separate rapes, speak volumes about their depravity and the abuse meted out to victims in this case.

He added: 'Again, it cannot be stressed more highly that the reason this dreadful offending came to light was the courage of victims who have come forward and reported the offending they were subjected to. Every possible effort is made at West Yorkshire Police to support victims of sexual abuse, but we realise how difficult making reports and then supporting prosecutions can be.

'These women showed enormous bravery in giving evidence in lengthy trials and I hope they can feel a sense of pride in the determination they have displayed to see justice done, and in seeing people who have no place in society being put behind bars.'

The gang is just the latest in a series of Asian grooming mobs to have been jailed following investigations into historical sexual abuse in the north of England - many of which had been overlooked in the past for fear of sparking racism accusations.

In January 2024 a report found young girls were 'left at the mercy' of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, because of failings by senior police and council bosses.

The damning 173-page review, covering the period from 2004 to 2013, set out multiple failed investigations by Greater Manchester Police and apparent local authority indifference to the plight of hundreds of youngsters.

The study followed reports by the same authors on grooming in Manchester and Oldham, which found authorities had again failed children, leaving them in the clutches of paedophiles.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an 'epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake'.