EXCLUSIVEGrooming gang leader who targeted hundreds of girls as young as 13 in Telford in systematic abuse hopes to be freed again after getting a parole hearing just 12 years into his sentence
- Mubarek and Ahdel Ali were jailed for numerous offences against teenage girls
One of the leaders of the UK's most notorious sex grooming gang that targeted doxens of girls as young as 13 has a parole hearing and hopes to be freed after less than 12-years in jail.
Mubarek Ali, then 29 and his brother Ahdel 'Eddie' Ali, 24, led the gang of seven men, which operated in Telford, Shropshire, that preyed on 100 young girls between 2006 and 2009.
The town was a hub of abuse which saw up to 1,000 girls, some as young as 11, fall victim to various sex gangs over a four-decade period.
Over three years, the Ali brothers' gang targeted schoolgirls who they controlled as child prostitutes by giving them alcohol, food and money.
The Ali brothers were found guilty in 2012 of numerous offences against four girls aged from 13 to 17, including rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting and controlling child prostitution and trafficking children for sex.
Ahdel Ali, 35, led a sex gang that targeted 100 girls as young as 13. He is hoping to be freed from jail after getting a parole hearing just 12 years into his sentence
Mubarek Ali, Ahdel's brother, was also a leader of the gang. In 2012 they were both found guilty of numerous offences against four girls aged from 13 to 17
Mubarek Ali was jailed for 14 years and Ahdel Ali was sentenced to an 18-year jail term after an eight week trial at Stafford Crown Court.
Mubarek was released automatically part way through his sentence in 2017, but was sent back to prison just under a year later after breaking his licence conditions.
His brother Ahdel was first released in late 2020 when halfway through his 18-year jail term. But he was recalled to jail just seven months later for breaching his licence conditions, believed to be around the use of a mobile phone.
MailOnline can reveal that Ahdel, now aged 35, had a parole hearing in December 2023 based on prison documents and the decision was to keep him in jail. He will be eligible for another appeal in two-years time.
In respect of Mubarek, now 40, his new appeal will be his third since being recalled. The panel at his second in May 2022 found it 'could find no evidence to suggest that his level of risk towards others had reduced.
They were 'not satisfied' that Mubarek Ali was suitable for release, according to a to document setting out the decision.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm the parole review of Mubarek Ali has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.
'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
'A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
'Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
'Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.
'It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.'
Ahdel Ali (left) was sentenced to an 18-year jail term after an eight week trial at Stafford Crown Court while his brother Mubarek Ali (right) was jailed for 14 years
Mubarek's hearing is expected to be heard in the early summer when it will be listed. After the appeal, he will be told within 14 days if he is to be freed.
During the brothers' trial the court heard that the two men systematically groomed young girls in such a way that eventually they could exploit them sexually for their own gain and gratification.
The Ali brothers, both of Wellington, Telford, denied a total of 24 offences alleged to have been committed against four girls between March 2008 and December 2009.
The court was told that the men, who were married, had described their victims as 'w****s', 's***s' and 's**ts'.
Speaking after seeing the men sentenced, detective chief inspector Neil Jamieson, senior investigating officer for West Mercia Police said: 'We are satisfied with the sentences handed down at court today and are pleased these two men will now serve significant custodial sentences.
'This is one of a number of high profile trials which have taken place recently across the UK and we are satisfied with the convictions in this case.
'Ahdel Ali and Mubarek Ali targeted these girls because of their vulnerability and then systematically groomed them in such a way that eventually they could exploit them sexually for their own gain and gratification.'
Five other men from the Telford area pleaded guilty to charges they faced prior to the start of their trials and were jailed for between two-and-a-half and seven years.
The operation to snare the sex abusers, 'Operation Chalice', was one of the largest in West Mercia Police history.
A team of up to 50 officers worked on the inquiry to bring the men to justice.
In 2018, one of the victims of abusers in Telford spoke anonymously on Good Morning Britain to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid about their ordeal.
Telford has the third highest number of child sexual offences recorded in the UK, just behind Blackpool and Rotherham, according to the Home Office.
The woman, going by the name of 'Holly', described how she was sold 'countless times' for sex.
One female victim of gangs in the town, speaking on Good Morning Britain in 2018, described the abuse she suffered as a 'whirlwind of rape'
She said: 'I was abused from the ages of 14-18, my abuse started with boys my own age, who went on to sell my phone number to older men.
'And from there it was just a whirlwind of rape every day basically. I was going into the doctors and the youth sexual health clinic to get the morning after pill, probably twice a week, and nobody even questioned anything.
'I had two abortions, still nothing was said to me. I was in cars that were stopped by the police and they asked me no questions of why I was there with a much older man... it got to the point where I tried to commit suicide, and still nobody asked me any questions about what was going on in my life and why I was reacting the way I was reacting.'
Holly added: 'The way I got out of it was by actually leaving Telford and isolating myself from my friends and family and everybody else that I knew.
'The reason why it went on for so long was because the men were blackmailing me saying that they were going to rape my family members or burn my house down.'
Asked by Susanna Reid how many men she thinks were responsible for the abuse she suffered, 'Holly' said: 'I couldn't even put a figure on it, it's that many.
'The main abusers, I'd say seven, but I was being sold every day, countless times, for four years.'
The authority in charge of the town, Telford and Wrekin Council, acted on just half of the warnings they received, it emerged at the time 'Holly' spoke out.
They were given 715 child sexual exploitation referrals in three years, but just 324 of the cases were referred.
Authorities had been warned of abuse a decade before Operation Chalice.
But authorities were warned of the abuse a decade before Operation Chalice.
Only 303 were passed to its Children Abused Through Exploitation team, according to the figures released under freedom of information laws.
