Three brothers who groomed teenage girls for sex have been branded paedophile predators who acted “in plain sight” as they were each given long jail sentences.
Shaha Amran Miah, 49, Shaha Alman Miah, 47, and Shaha Joman Miah, 38, were convicted after a trial last October of more than 60 offences against five girls, ranging in age from six to 15, Preston Crown Court heard.
None of the victims, from both Leeds, West Yorkshire, and Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, can be identified.
Eleven jurors returned to court, four months after the end of the trial, to watch as all three were sentenced by Judge Ian Unsworth KC.
Joman Miah was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years, for 40 offences.
Amran Miah was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years for 16 offences and Alman Miah was jailed for 10 years with an extended four years on licence after release, for three offences.
Victims of the brothers gasped as two were given life sentences, sobbing and exchanging hugs in the public gallery.
Passing sentence, Judge Unsworth told the brothers: “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.”
During the trial prosecutors characterised the brothers as “Team Miah”, putting family loyalty before the truth, each backing their brothers’ denials and trying to discredit witnesses.
Joman and Amran Miah’s offending began with the sexual abuse of two girls, aged six and seven, in Leeds in 1996, which continued for several years.
The brothers, who have 10 other siblings, went on to target teenage girls when they moved to Barrow in around 2008 to work in a takeaway owned by the family.
The shop became a “hub of criminality” with girls being picked up in cars still wearing their school uniforms and taken there, the court heard.
In rooms above the shop, the youngsters would be plied with drink and drugs, given cash and cigarettes and the three brothers would carry out sexual assaults on “scabby beds”.
Judge Unsworth said that in Barrow the brothers were not “acting in the shadows but acting in plain sight”, and each of the victims were vulnerable, with the brothers confident if they “blew the whistle” they would not be believed.
Joman Miah started a relationship with a 14-year-old, grooming her by giving her gifts, alcohol and cigarettes.
Around the same time, Alman Miah started a relationship with a 15-year-old girl.
During their relationship, the girl was raped by his brother, Amran.
In late 2009, the 15-year-old victim was threatened by Amran Miah after speaking to the police.
She was grabbed off the street by her hair, shoved in the back of a car and told “she would be dead” if she told police what was going on.
He threatened her family, saying they would face a backlash with “cars full of people” from the Pakistani community coming to Barrow.
Amran Miah also made threats to a woman who was due to be interviewed by the police in 2010, saying her house would be set on fire. Due to the threats, that interview never took place.
Joman Miah, of Doncaster, was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault, four counts of indecency with a child, eight counts of sexual activity with a child, five counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, nine counts of child rape and six counts of sexual assault of a child.
Amran Miah, of Leeds, was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault, seven counts of indecency with a child, one count of rape of a child, one count of kidnapping, two counts of witness intimidation and one count of sexual assault.
Alman Miah, of Leeds, was found guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a child.
Judge Unsworth commended officers from Cumbria Police and West Yorkshire Police for their investigation and excused jurors from serving on a jury again for life.
