Lord Nazir found guilty of child rape attempt in the 1970s

LONDON – British politician Nazir Ahmed has been found guilty of attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under 11 in the 1970s, BBC News reported.

The report said the former member of the house of lords of Pakistani origin, has been convicted for sexual abuse and assault attempts. The charges actually date back to the 1970s when Nazir was a youngster.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the repeated sexual abuse which occurred in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, when he was a teenager however Ahmed denied the charges saying the allegations were ‘malicious fiction’.

Prosecutor told the court that the 64-year-old twice attempted to sexually assault the girl in the early 1970s when the defendant was aged 16 or 17 but she was much younger while he also mentioned that the attack on the other victim, who was a boy, happened in the same period.

A recording of a phone call between the two victims – made by the woman after she went to the police in 2016 – showed they were not ‘made-up or concocted’. Earlier, a previous trial collapsed last year due to errors made by the prosecution.

Ahmed, who denied all the charges, said he will be appealing against the conviction announced by a jury at the Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday over eight counts of alleged sexual offenses. He was found guilty of two counts of attempted rape and one of buggery.

Meanwhile, the two older brothers of Nazir, Mohammed Farouq, 71, and Mohammed Tariq, 65, were also charged, but both were believed to be unfit to stand trial.

Nazir earlier stepped down from the House of Lords in November 2020 after an inquiry that followed an investigation against him. It was revealed that he sexually and emotionally exploited a woman who had sought his help.

Meanwhile, Judge Mr. Justice Lavender will decide later about the sentence of the convict.