Serial Pedophile Has Fondness for 13-Year-Olds...

A ROTHERHAM man on trial for having sex with two 13-year-old girls had six years previously indecently assaulted another girl, also aged 13, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Razwan Razaq is one of eight men accused of 23 different sexual offences against four young teenagers in Rotherham in 2008.

Razaq, now aged 30, admitted having sex with two of the girls, both aged 13, but told the jury he was "100 per cent convinced" they were over 16.

Prosecutor Sarah Wright told the court Razaq, of Oxford Street, Clifton, had previously served a sentence for indecent assault after he molested a 13-year-old girl in July 2002.

The incident took place in his car after the girl, who he thought was 16, asked him to buy her beer at a shop in Broom.

After pleading guilty to the offence he was handed a sexual offences prevention order, under which he could not "have access to or control of" any girl under 16 without her parent's consent.

He was also banned from inviting under 16s into his car.

Ms Wright, cross-examining Razaq, said: "You say in 2002 it was very unfortunate you had a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl. And then in 2008 you were duped by two girls of 13.

"Are you saying to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that lightning struck three times?"

Razaq replied: "It was unfortunate for me. Very unfortunate.

"It is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. The last two years have been hell."

He said the girls he picked up in 2008 were "obviously quite streetwise."

"I looked at the way they were acting, the things they did and the way they were dressed. They were smoking and drinking and were out until 11 at night. They didn't look 13, no way.

"They told me they were over 16 and I believed them. It's not my fault they lied to me."

Also on trial is Razwan's brother Umar Razaq, aged 24, also of Oxford Street, who denies all charges, as do Mohammed Zafran Ramzan, 21, Broom Grove, Broom; Mohsin Khan, 21, of Haworth Crescent, Moorgate; Shazad Akbar, 23, of Shirecliffe Lane, Sheffield; Saeed Hussain, 29, of Hatherley Road, Eastwood; Adil Hussain, 20, of Nelson Street; and Shalzaad Hussain, 22, of Clough Road, Masbrough