By Grâçia Ada Obi
Three brothers have been found guilty of sexually abusing girls as young as six in a span of 14 years.
Shaha Amran Miah, 48, Shaha Alman Miah, 47, and Shaha Joman Miah, 38, targeted their vulnerable victims between 1996 and 2010 across Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and Leeds, manipulating the girls when they were aged between six and seven.
They also groomed schoolgirls by showering them with gifts, alcohol and cigarettes. They have now been convicted of a string of child sex offences following a trial at Preston Crown Court.
Authorities say that Joman and Amran sexually abused two girls from the age of seven while they lived in Leeds. The court was told that Joman also had a “relationship” with a girl who was 14 years old. He would beat her when he was drunk.
He also gave her £40 a month in cash and “pretty much whatever she wanted.” During the same time, Alman went after a 15-year-old girl. His brother Amran later raped her.
She was brave enough to tell the cops what was going on, but then she was grabbed by the hair and thrown into a car where Amran was waiting. He told the girl he would do anything to protect his family and that she “would be dead” if she told the police anything.
Amran also abused three children sexually and was charged with 16 sexual crimes, two counts of threatening to hurt someone, and one count of kidnapping. Among other things, he was found guilty of rape, kidnapping, sexual assault, and seven counts of indecent attack with a child.
Joman also faces jail for nine counts of rape, eight counts of indecent attack, four counts of indecency with a child, six counts of sexual assault on a child, and six counts of sexual activity with a child, while Alman was found guilty of three counts of having sex with a child.
Derek Artis from the Crown Prosecution Service said the brothers ‘groomed and exploited’ the girls with ‘no concern for them’ or the impact it ‘would have on them’.
He added: “I would like to commend the women who have come forward and supported a prosecution in this case. “I hope they can now begin to move forward knowing the men who abused and exploited them will face justice.”
The brothers were remanded in custody to be sentenced in February 2025.