Grooming victim 'forgotten' in parole decision

A victim of a Telford grooming gang has said she feels forgotten, following a decision to release one of her attackers from prison.

The woman, who uses the name Kate Elysia, said she was raped by Mohammed Ali Sultan when she was 18 and that he also arranged for other men to rape her.

Sultan was jailed for seven years in 2012 after admitting having sex with two teenage girls, one of whom was 13 years old, his sentence was extended in 2015 and again in 2019 when he was found guilty of further sexual offences.

The Ministry of Justice apologised for failing to inform Ms Elysia of a parole hearing.

Ms Elysia, who waived her right to anonymity, told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "He would regularly bring around other people, who would rape me at my house and I think he was selling my address, because people would turn up to my house who I didn't know."

She also said she was given alcohol and drugs by Sultan and said he was a "very dangerous man".

A parole board decided in December he could be released back into the community, but Ms Elysia said: "I had no idea that he was even up for parole, so at first I was a bit taken aback and didn't really know what to do."

She said her first instinct was to tell no-one, but she changed her mind and decided to tell her family "just in case something happened after he's released".

"I was scared for me and I was scared for my family," she said.

The Ministry of Justice said: "We offer our deepest apologies to Kate Elysia for failing to inform her of the hearing.

"We will do everything possible to ensure this cannot happen again."

Shabana Mahmood, the Secretary of State for Justice and Labour MP for Ladywood in Birmingham, said she had asked for the parole board decision to be reconsidered.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed it had received the request and that the application would now be considered by the Parole Board, but applications of this sort would only be accepted "in specific circumstances where there are strong legal grounds to do so".

If the Parole Board does not accept the application, Mohammed Ali Sultan would be released on licence, the ministry said.

Ms Elysia said she had received the apology, but she said she felt her views should have been taken into account.

She said: "They completely forgot me as a victim, so they forgot me, they forgot my human rights."

She asked if other survivors had also been overlooked and said she was aware of cases where the victims had not been told about the release of an offender.

It was "absolutely terrifying to not be involved at all" she said, adding: "A lot needs to be done to make sure that victims and survivors are getting the information that they need."

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