*This isn’t the cynical “grooming” MO of enticing a vulnerable girl into a life of sex slavery and misery. This is the violent and brutal method of selecting a likely girl at random on the street and dragging her off to be raped. *

FromITVX News ,Warwickshire Police and The Telegraph

A judge has lifted reporting restrictions protecting the identities of two Afghan asylum seekers aged 17 who carried out the “horrific” rape of a teenage girl in Warwickshire.

Warwick Crown Court was told Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal led the highly-distressed 15-year-old victim into a “den-type” area in Newbold Comyn in Leamington Spa where they attacked her on Saturday 10 May 2025.

Ruling that the youths should be identified after applications to name them by four media organisations including the Press Association, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano accepted that keeping existing restrictions in place could lead to speculation which might see innocent people being targeted.

“A lack of information stokes public anger and leads to the unchecked spread of false information,” the judge said.

Jahanzeb and Niazal pleaded guilty at a hearing at Coventry youth court in October to attacking the girl.

Both defendants were committed to the Crown Court for sentence, each appearing in the dock assisted by their own interpreter.

The rape, which took place after the victim had become separated from friends in a grassed area, was described as “horrific” during legal submissions regarding reporting restrictions.

Opening the facts of the case against Jahanzeb and Niazal on Monday, Prosecutor Shawn Williams said both defendants were unaccompanied child asylum seekers.

Jahanzeb fled Afghanistan and underwent an age assessment which concluded he was 17 after arriving in the UK in January this year, Mr Williams said.

Mr Williams told the court that video evidence recovered during a police inquiry showed Jahanzeb in company with the victim and speaking in Pashto to summon Niazal to join him. Footage from a mobile phone recovered during the inquiry was highly distressing, Mr Williams said, adding that the victim had screamed for help but Jahanzeb had placed his hand over her mouth.

The victim had made “explicit verbal protests” during what Mr Williams described as “an abduction”.

Mr Williams said of CCTV footage showing three figures: “She was being led away against her will. “She was moved to a bushy den-type area – a really secluded location.”

The victim, who was terrified, recalls that she was then pushed to her knees before being raped.

“The prosecution case is that it was probably Jahanzeb that did that, but what is certain is that Israr Niazal was present and participating,” Mr Williams said. The victim had repeatedly shouted for Jahanzeb to let go of her, the court heard, but he beckoned to Niazal to join him before leading the girl to the rape scene.

The Afghan teenager then rang his friend Niazal, telling him to “come quick” before the pair forced their victim to perform oral sex on them.

“The video footage is of a highly distressing nature. She is heard explicitly saying ‘you are going to rape me, let me go’. During the video Jahanzeb is heard telling her to shush, he can be seen to put his hand over her mouth, presumably in an effort to silence her. She recalls being terrified and wanting the ordeal to be over quickly.”

The court heard the girl was forced to her knees by the pair and attacked. “There was no way either defendant could have believed she was consenting,” added Mr Williams.

Disturbing video filmed by the girl in the lead-up to the attack was played to the court in which she repeatedly screams: “Help, I don’t want to go to the park.”

During the attack, the girl begged a female passer-by for help but she did not come to her aid. . . . At one point a woman is heard asking: “Are you alright?”

The girl replies: “No. Help me. Please help me. So many people have walked past me. I want to go home. Please, please. Help me, help me. You’re going to rape me.”

She was eventually assisted by a member of the public who advised her to contact the police and stayed with her until she was safe.

Jahanzeb was sentenced to ten years and eight months while the judge gave Niazal nine years and ten months.

Both will start their sentences in a Young Offenders’ Institution and move to prison at a later date. The pair were also made to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and given an indefinite restraining order.

Barristers for Jahanzeb and Niazal had unsuccessfully tried to stop their names being made public, saying it could lead to “widespread public disorder”.

Robert Holt, representing Jahanzeb, asked the judge to ban the media from saying the pair were Afghan asylum seekers, but Judge de Bertodano said it was in the public interest for them to be named.