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Rhyl Child Exploitation Trial Opens as Jury Watches Teen’s Police Interview

Prosecutors say the case centers on grooming tactics that traded drugs for sex.

Overview

  • The case at Caernarfon Crown Court, which opened Monday, is set to run up to nine weeks as prosecutors outline claims that four men groomed three teens in Rhyl.
  • Jurors watched a recorded police interview in which a 15-year-old said she was given cannabis and pressed into sex acts by men she met in 2022.
  • The defendants — Mustafa Iqbal, Mohamed Arshad, Ziaullah Badshah and Jaswinder Singh — face 28 counts including trafficking for sexual exploitation, rape and drug supply, and they deny the charges.
  • Prosecutors say Singh took a 15-year-old to London and told her to claim she was his 22-year-old carer to hide his role in the alleged ring.
  • A fifth defendant, Sarah Gray, is accused of letting her home be used for abuse, joining drug supply plots and washing bedding after an alleged handcuffed rape.