Bradford child sex offender jailed for raping girl

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

A "cold and calculated" sex offender who pretended to be a teenage boy on social media to groom and abuse an 11-year-old girl has been jailed for more than a decade.

Abdullah Khalid Mhana, 26, lied about his age on the apps and encouraged youngsters to engage in sexual activity with him.

Mhana, of Hirst Lodge Court, Bradford, admitted 17 offences including rape, sexual assault and making indecent images of a child.

At Bradford Crown Court on Monday, he was jailed for 10-and-a-half years.

Mhana began grooming the 11 year old in 2020 and met up a year later at a Bradford park where he persuaded her to perform a sex act.

He recorded some of the acts on his mobile phone, the court heard.

That device was subsequently seized and examined by police in 2022 when they were investigating his involvement with another underage girl.

Despite being given a formal warning to stay away from the second child, Mhana continued to have sex with the first complainant after she turned 13.

'Deliberately sought out'

That device was subsequently seized and examined by police in 2022 when they were investigating his involvement with another underage girl.

Despite being given a formal warning to stay away from the second child, Mhana continued to have sex with the first complainant after she turned 13.

Jailing him, Recorder Andrew Dallas said Mhana had committed offences of great gravity.

鈥淭his was in my judgement cold, calculating behaviour in which you deliberately sought out the sexual favours of someone who you knew to be 11 years of age."

He said when the girl tried to break off contact with the defendant he had 鈥渨ormed鈥 his way back into her affections.

The court heard that Mhana later persuaded the girl to go 鈥渏ust for a drive鈥 in his car, but he then had sex with her in the vehicle.

The judge highlighted the fact that the formal warning Mhana received from the police in the summer of 2022 should have been a wake-up call for him, but he had been undeterred and continued his abuse of the child.

Recorder Dallas said he was not satisfied that Mhana had expressed genuine remorse for his offending or that he had proper empathy for the victims.

Mhana will now have to serve at least two-thirds of his prison sentence and he will then be subject to an extended licence period of two-and-a-half years.

He will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.