In the latest verdict linked to the long-running “grooming gangs” scandal in the UK, seven men were sentenced on Wednesday to a combined 174 years in jail for sexually exploiting two vulnerable girls.

The men were convicted in June after a trial involving a total of 50 offences, including 30 counts of rape, which occurred between 2001 and 2006.

Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella told jurors at the start of their trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court that the group’s two victims were “passed around for sex, abused, degraded and then discarded”.

Girls Known To Social Services

Scamardella also said the two girls were known to social services and that it was “no secret” they were having sex with older South Asian men such as the defendants, a situation with similarities to other groo

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