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Sheraz Malik Sentencing and the Wider Context of Grooming Gangs

Friday, June 12, 2026
5 min read
Sheraz Malik Sentencing and the Wider Context of Grooming Gangs

Sheraz Malik got his sentence on Thursday. Ten years in jail, plus four years on extended license. The whole thing happened way back on June 29 last year. In Sutton Lawn park. That’s where the attack took place.

The details are kind of messy. She was drinking with a friend when he and some other guys just walked over and joined them. Then things went really bad. Her friend apparently asked Malik and his crew to "look after" her while they went somewhere else. One of them took her to a secluded spot in the park, supposedly for the toilet. That’s when the rape happened.

Prosecution counsel Nicholas Corsellis KC spoke up before the court. He said Malik decided he wanted sex with her. Then he took his turn taking her to a place where he physically hit her while raping her. And then, sickeningly enough, after it was over, Malik asked her if she enjoyed it. "Did you enjoy that?"

The Gree reported that the 28-year-old claimed consent. But the jury found him guilty of two counts of rape at Birmingham Crown Court in January.

But the judge didn’t let that stop there. Judge Simon Ash KC said Malik attacked this woman, despite knowing she was very drunk and alone in a park at night with men she didn't know. He added that Malik kept calling her "a slut" after the assault.

There was more from the judge. He mentioned how Malik posed "a significant risk" to the public. And he noted that Malik showed zero remorse, no responsibility for what he did. He pointed to a pre-sentence report too. It said Malik displayed "distorted thinking" about consent and just objectifying women.

He kept going. He basically said Malik felt only hostility toward her, not empathy.

Meanwhile, there’s this other story bubbling up. Weeks after that sentencing, MP Rupert Lowe released some revelations. It tied back into something much bigger.

Lowe brought up testimonies from girls who were victims of horrific "grooming gangs." These groups involved men, mostly of Pakistani heritage. The investigation found these gangs were basically taxi drivers and market traders. A whole system of exploitation.

These reports started coming out a while ago. Back in 2002, Labour MP Ann Cryer warned that this grooming stuff was happening in her West Yorkshire area, Keighley. It wasn't just one spot then.

But Lowe’s private investigation? That looked at it across the whole UK. He found these "rape gangs" operating in at least eighty-five places. Mostly men of Pakistani heritage running the show. The scope was huge. Accounts of extreme abuse, pregnancies, intimidation all came out in those testimonies. And alleged police failures too.

It’s all connected somehow, isn't it? The immediate sentencing, and then this wider picture about how these groups operate across the country. It just feels… uneven.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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