David Bentley successfully prosecutes man for historic sex abuse

August 6, 2018

David Bentley from Exchange Chambers has successfully prosecuted a 33-year old man who sexually abused a young child more than 100 times over a four-year period.

Anwar Ali, 33, was found guilty of five counts of rape of a child aged under 13, four counts of sexual assault by penetration of a child under the age of 13 and two counts of accessing indecent images of children. He was jailed for 21 years at Manchester Crown Court.

Ali preyed on the youngster when he was just five-years-old when he suggested he play computer games with him in his bedroom.

The offences took place between 2003 and 2007, and only ended when the victim moved away. He went to police last year after experiencing sleepless nights and suffering from OCD, which caused him to scrub his skin so hard when washing it was ‘red raw’.

Officers went to Ali’s home in Hyde, Greater Manchester and found indecent images of children on his computer.

David Bentley prosecuting said: “The defendant’s bedroom had a Playstation and Xbox and the complainant would be invited into the bedroom with the defendant to play video games. But during 2003, when the complainant was only five years old, he approached him from behind and began kissing him. It then progressed further over the next four years.”

In a statement the victim said: “I felt like I could trust Anwar but he stole my childhood.

“I have developed OCD and wash myself to the point that my skin is red raw. I have found it difficult to cope with normal experiences and I don’t like it when people touch me.”

Ali denied wrongdoing at a trial earlier this year.

Judge Tina Landale told him: “This was a campaign of sexual abuse which took place in your bedroom.

“You enticed him into your bedroom with the promise of playing video games and I described it as a campaign because that there were more than 100 incidents. He says it was sometimes more than once a week.

“You kept your family in the dark with your sexual interest in young boys and you continued to rape and sexually abuse him.

“You now walk with a stick and I am told you have erectile dysfunction – but that doesn’t stop you from being sexually titillated from child pornography online. You were still being aroused by looking at children being abused online.

“You are still sexually interested in children and I know this because you were arrested in March 2017 for having indecent images of children.”

Ali will be on licence until 2043 after his release from jail and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Det Con Louise Isherwood from Greater Manchester Police’s Child Protection Unit said after the case: “Ali is a sexual predator who not only used a young boy’s interest in computer games to abuse him over a prolonged period, but had the audacity to plead innocence from the point of police interview and right throughout the trial, forcing the victim to relive this horrific ordeal.

“But, thanks to the courage of his victim – who did not want to tell his friends and family about this abuse and coped with it on his own before receiving specialist support from officers – we have today’s sentence, which sends out a clear message that no matter when these types of crime happen, they will be taken very seriously.”

The case received national coverage.