Syrian immigrant 'thought it was legal' to meet underage girl in Leeds for threesome sex

Mohammed Ali tried to meet the girl outside Leeds Town Hall after telling he wanted to have sex with her and another underage girl at the same time.

He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after being stung by an online paedophile hunter group. But his barrister, Mohammed Rafiq, told the court: “He was not aware of the age of consent. Things are different from the part of the world he comes from. The ways things operate over there is that there’s a judge who decides whether two parties are mature enough to get married.

“He was 16 when he got married and his wife was 14. He accepts what he has done is wrong.”

The court heard that 23-year-old Ali had illegally come to the UK in the autumn of 2021 seeking asylum. Just weeks later he latched onto the profile of a young girl on Facebook Messenger which was a decoy run by Predator Exposure - the online hunter group looking to snare paedophiles trawling the internet for children.

After making contact, he told her he was 18 and from Syria but was in Leeds staying at an Ibis hotel. Throughout November of 2021 he communicated with the girl, sending her photos of himself in his hotel room.

He asked her several times to meet, and turned the conversation sexual, saying he had another girl with him and that he wanted sex with both of them. He told her not to tell anyone about their communication.

They arranged to meet near Leeds Town Hall, near to the Ferris wheel on Briggate on November 20, 2021, but Ali was met by members of Predator Exposure who livestreamed the confrontation.

A large protest was being held in Leeds that day, so police were already on hand and arrested Ali. He later admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming, and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He has no previous convictions.

Mr Raffiq told the court: “He is extremely ashamed and deeply frightened about his appearance before the court. He accepts what he has done is wrong.

“I say he was a very foolish and immature young man when he committed these offences. When he was arrested he did not try to run away. To his credit, he put his hands up and pleaded guilty. He was brought up in a difficult environment with a war raging in Syria.”

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He said that Ali wanted to show he was “not a menace to society but an idiot”.

Judge Richard Mansell KC questioned Ali’s claim about not knowing the age of consent, pointing to his lies about his own age and telling the girl not to tell anyone.

He told him: “These offences are too serious to be dealt with by any other way than a sentence of immediate custody. You fully intended to have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.”

He jailed him for 12 months, gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to curb his internet use, and put him on the sex offender register.

But he told Ali he was “liable for deportation” once he is released.