Asylum seeker who groomed and raped girl, 13, jailed

An asylum seeker who raped a 13-year-old girl after pretending to be a teenager on Snapchat has been jailed.

Abdul Khan attacked the girl in a nature reserve in Clifton, Nottingham, on 14 May last year.

Khan arrived in the UK in a back of a lorry in 2015, Nottingham Crown Court heard, and faces automatic deportation to Afghanistan after he has served two thirds of his sentence.

He was jailed for nine and a half years on Monday after he 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.

A four-day trial was told Khan, who is believed to be 28, arranged to meet his victim in woodland after telling her on the Snapchat messaging app that he was a 14-year-old boy.

When they met in person and it was clear he was not 14, he tried to appease her by claiming to be 16, the court heard.

After activity that jurors found had been consensual, Khan twice raped the girl.

Judge Mark Watson said the victim told her father what had happened and he contacted police.

Addressing Khan, he said: "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."

Prosecutor Dawn Pritchard read out a victim personal statement telling the judge the victim "feels numb when she thinks back to how she felt at the time".

Summarising the statement, Pritchard added: "She felt scared of the world after it happened and felt overwhelmed.

"When she has flashbacks, she sees his face and what happened. She feels like she can't trust anyone."

Defence barrister Andrew Wesley said he was unable to offer any personal mitigation on behalf of Khan, as he still disputed the identity and age under which he was prosecuted.

The judge told Khan his sentence would mean automatic deportation.

The defendant, who covered his face with his hands as he walked out of the dock, was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

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