Five men from Newcastle sex grooming network jailed for almost 50 years

Five men were jailed for a total of 48 and a half years on Thursday for their part in a grooming network operating on Tyneside in which girls and vulnerable young women were exploited for sex.

One member of the gang was been jailed for 20 years for repeatedly raping a teenager who was addicted to the drugs he gave her.

Iranian Eisa Mousavi was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court for three counts of rape, drugs and prostitution offences.

The 42-year-old took girls round to his flat in a tower block in Arthur's Hill, Newcastle, and raped one of them in his bedroom while she was "mortal drunk" while the others shouted outside for him to stop.

John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said: "He told them if they didn't stop shouting they wouldn't get any drugs."

Judge Penny Moreland sentenced him to 20 years, saying: "You showed remarkable persistence over a long period in targeting and grooming young girls under 16."

Mousavi, assisted in court by an interpreter, had told police the reason he had contact with so many young girls on Facebook was to improve his English.

The judge rejected his excuse.

A mother living above one flat where the gang groomed and sexually abused girls said their all-night parties made her life "hell", the court was told.

Taxis would come and go outside the property in Joan Street in Newcastle's west end and the noise from bottles clinking made it sound like a nightclub, the resident said.

It was the home of Nashir Uddin, 35, another of the five grooming gang members being sentenced.

Mr Elvidge said the woman lived above it with her young son and she was disgusted by the smell of cannabis which came into her flat from Uddin's.Locals noticed taxis arriving and the drivers going in with girls, with sometimes four cars parked outside.

Teenage girls would then be seen leaving at 7.30am and getting in the taxis outside.

Mr Elvidge said the noise from Uddin's flat of slamming doors and bottlesdisturbed the woman and her son.

"She described it as like living above a bar or a nightclub," he said. "The noise became routine, night after night.

"The girls were white, aged 15 or 16, although they might have been older. The males were all of Asian ethnicity."

She heard noises of people having sex, the parties went on all night and she had to use air fresheners to disguise the smell of cannabis.

Mr Elvidge said: "She said living at (the flat) was hell." She has since moved away.

Uddin, known as Nash, was jailed for 11-and-a-half years for sexual assault, drugs offences and conspiracy to incite prostitution.

Gang members would use his home for parties known as sessions where vulnerable girls were given drink and mephedrone, and were persuaded or forced into having sex.

Jamie Hill QC, defending, said Uddin had borderline learning difficulties, an IQ of just 75 and was put into the flat after a period in mental hospital.

Mr Hill said other gang members were more sophisticated than Uddin and they used his flat for parties.

Taherul Alam, 32, of Normanton Terrace, Newcastle, was jailed for eight years for drugs offences, attempted sexual assault and a prostitution charge.

Known as T-Boss and with a son aged three, he gave a victim mephedrone in return for her having sex with his friend, telling her: "My boy wants you."

Monjur Choudhury, 33, of Philip Place, Newcastle, was jailed for five years for supplying drugs, prostitution and drugs offences.

Mr Elvidge said the father-of-three allowed his premises to be used for sessions.

India-born Prabhat Nelli had been a postgraduate student at Sunderland University and had worked at Nissan.

The 34-year-old was jailed for four years for drugs and prostitution offences. He did not have sex with any of the girls but a person sharing his flat did.

Judge Moreland will pass sentences on two more gang members on Friday.