Men jailed for brutal rape

Two men have been jailed for five years each after repeatedly raping a 17-year old girl in Rochdale last July.

Asylum seekers Mohammed Ali, who was believed to be 25 at the time of the incident but in court this week claimed that he was 18, and Alik Madi, who also claimed to be 18, were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court. Both men lived at the same house in Rathbone Street, Newbold.

The victim had been walking close to the Lidl supermarket on Spotland Road in the early hours of Saturday 5 July when the two men dragged her into some bushes and raped her several times.

The court heard how the girl had appealed to passers-by to call the police following the incident but her cries fell on deaf ears as a teenager on a bike, a man walking his dog and an employee at a petrol station on Whitworth Road all refused to help her.

The victim was walking home from a house party when the offenders followed her towards the Dunelm store at Townhead where they sexually assaulted her. The teenager managed to run away towards Spotland Road but the men caught up with her at Lidl and took turns to rape her.