ASYLUM SEEKER JAILED FOR NINE AND A HALF YEARS OVER RAPE OF 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL

Abdul Khan has been sentenced to nine and a half years in prison after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in Nottingham. Nottingham Crown Court heard that Khan, believed to be 28, posed as a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat before arranging to meet the victim at a nature reserve in Clifton on 14 May last year. When the pair met in person and Khan's true age became apparent, he claimed to be 16 years old. Khan was convicted of two counts of rape, one count of sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming and perverting the course of justice.

Khan arrived in the UK hidden in the back of a lorry in 2015. A four-day trial heard that following initial sexual activity which jurors found was consensual, Khan raped the victim twice. The victim reported the assault to her father, who contacted police. Judge Mark Watson told Khan: "You deliberately concealed your true identity. She thought she was communicating with a child of her own age. It was a lie you have persisted with throughout these proceedings."

Khan will be subject to automatic deportation to Afghanistan after serving two-thirds of his sentence. He was already serving a 23-month sentence for engaging in sexual communication with another child in the Derbyshire area. Defence barrister Andrew Wesley offered no personal mitigation, as Khan continued to contest the identity and age under which he was prosecuted. The victim's personal statement, presented to the court on Monday, described her feeling numb, scared and unable to trust others following the assault.