Four men and a woman have been jailed after a Caernarfon Crown Court trial found they ran a grooming network that exploited three teenage girls in Rhyl. Ringleader Mustafa Iqbal received a 35-year sentence after convictions for multiple rapes and sexual assaults. Investigators used covert tactics, CCTV, phone data and specialist victim support to build the case. A safeguarding review will assess how the offenders were able to target vulnerable children and why an earlier inquiry in 2022 was not progressed.
Ringleader Jailed for 35 Years as Rhyl Grooming Gang Is Sentenced
Jailed for their roles in a grooming gang exploiting teenage girls in north Wales: (Clockwise from top left) Mustafa Iqbal, Mohamed Arshad, Jaswinder Singh, Sarah Gray, and Ziaullah Badshah [North Wales Police]
Four men and a woman who formed a grooming network that sexually exploited three teenage girls in the seaside town of Rhyl, north Wales, have been given long prison terms after a three-month trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.
The first two victims of the sexual exploitation gang were approached near this Rhyl petrol station by Mustafa Iqbal [BBC]
Prosecutors said the ringleader, Mustafa Iqbal, was convicted of 21 offences, including four rapes and three counts of sexual assault involving victims aged 14, 15 and 16. He was sentenced to 35 years behind bars.
Det Sgt Keira Williams says patience and expert help was needed to coax the victims' accounts from them over many weeks [BBC]
How The Abuse Was Carried Out
Jurors heard how the offenders targeted vulnerable teenagers on the streets of Rhyl, sometimes meeting at a popular local coffee house. The girls were given drugs and encouraged to play a game of "spin the bottle" before being abused. Some of the men worked at or used the coffee shop as a meeting place, which helped conceal their actions from the wider community.
This former Rhyl cafe owned at the time by Arshad linked the men in the grooming gang [BBC]
Investigation And Evidence
North Wales Police described the inquiry as one of their most complex into child sexual exploitation. Investigators gathered evidence covertly and analysed hundreds of hours of CCTV, phone records and travel data. Officers also spent weeks building trust with the victims, working alongside social services and charities including Barnardo's and the national Hydrant Programme for specialist support.
Iqbal refused to answer questions when quizzed about abuse by police, stating "no comment" [North Wales Police]
"First of all we had the challenges of getting the accounts from the victims — they were really difficult accounts to give. They had to show real strength in doing that," said Detective Chief Inspector Richard Sidney, who led the probe.
Convictions And Sentences
In addition to Iqbal's 35-year sentence, Mohamed Usman Arshad was jailed for 19 years after being convicted of rape and other offences; Ziaullah Badshah received 17 years; and Jaswinder Singh was sentenced to eight years. Sarah Gray was given an eight-year term after being convicted of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender. All four men were ordered to remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
The judge described Iqbal as "devious and thoroughly manipulative" and found that the offending posed a continuing risk to young people.
Impact On Victims And Next Steps
The court heard of the lasting harm to the victims. One of the young women said the abuse had been the most traumatic experience she had faced and that she continued to suffer panic attacks and anxiety. A safeguarding review by the North Wales Safeguarding Board will examine how the gang was able to operate and why earlier inquiries begun in 2022 were not pursued until further offences prompted the investigation to be reopened and arrests made in August 2025.
North Wales Police said the sentences should reassure the local community that such offending is treated with the utmost seriousness and that specialist support remains in place for victims.
Help us improve.
