Rapist who groomed teen girl jailed for 14 years

A man who groomed a teenage girl online, plied her with alcohol and raped her has been jailed for 14 years.

Burhan Din, 30, of no fixed abode, was convicted at Bradford Crown Court of two counts of rape, four offences of sexual activity with a child and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard Din contacted the girl through social media, before beginning a campaign of abuse, during which he recorded himself having sex with her on his mobile phone.

Sentencing him Recorder Jason Pitter KC, said: "In very simple terms you deliberately and cynically groomed her."

Din had also admitted possessing a machete and a small quantity of cannabis.

The court heard Din was older than the girl by 12 years when the abuse began and knew from an early stage that she was a child.

The rape offences took place at his flat in Bradford after he had got the teenager drunk, jurors were told.

Recorder Pitter said the case highlighted the dangers posed to young people by online predators using social media and the internet.

The victim read a statement to the court in which she described the impact the abuse had had on her life.

She said her life had been "nothing but hell" since Din first contacted her and told the court she had felt scared and powerless.

In her statement she said coming forward had taken a great deal of courage, but she was glad to have finally had her voice heard.

She described herself as "a survivor, not a victim", adding that she was no longer the broken girl she once felt she had become.

The judge praised the teenager's courage in reading her statement aloud in court.

"She has very bravely read her impact statement to speak her truth and take back her power," Recorder Pitter said.

"She is a credit to herself."

The court also heard Din continued to deny the sexual offences despite the jury's guilty verdicts.

Din will remain on the sex offenders register for life and be subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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