Shropshire Star

'Max' the Monster - The criminal history of Telford paedophile gang leader Mubarek Ali

The name of Mubarek Ali - the Telford paedophile gang ringleader - will be well known to the people of Shropshire by now.

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Mubarek Ali.

But to his latest victim while she was being abused, she only knew him as "Max".

That was until she saw the vacant stare, puffy cheeks and goatee beard of his mugshot in a newspaper when he was linked with Operation Chalice - the investigation into men who were pimping out and sexually abusing children in Telford.

This week, Ali has admitted a slew of new offences, finally confessing to raping, trafficking and sexually abusing the girl from the age of 14 after his trial had already started at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

The 40-year-old, who was in his 20s at the time, sexually abused her in hotels in Telford, at his mum's house in Wellington, and in broad daylight in front of a "disgusted" dog walker in Constitution Hill, as well as pimping her out.

She told police that men who Ali gave her phone number to would constantly call her and ask: "How much do you charge?" and on one occasion, in Stoke-on-Trent, a paedophile asked: "Who's first?" before abusing her and three other girls.

The victim, now in her 30s, bravely spoke up to police, and video footage of those interviews with officers, where she shared her harrowing account of what happened to her at the hands of Ali, was played to the jury.

She said, after meeting him aged 12, she "fell madly in love with him," and "would have done anything for him". She said she had been "naive" and grew to "hate herself".