UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail
BY
RICHARD VERNALLS
BEN HURST
A disgraced imam who fled to Bangladesh after being convicted of historical sex attacks on two girls he tutored has been jailed for 11 and a half years in his absence.
Hifiz Rahman was captured on CCTV boarding a plane to Dhaka the day after a Wolverhampton Crown Court jury found him guilty of five counts of indecent assaults on victims as young as six.
During his sentencing it emerged that Rahman had a Bangladeshi passport, which the British authorities knew nothing about, allowing him to flee.
Rahman, who had diabetes, was on bail during the two criminal trials which saw him convicted, and was unable to attend some days after complaining of feeling unwell.
Sentencing the 58-year-old for a “gross breach of trust”, Judge Nicholas Cartwright said Rahman had “deceived” not only the parents of his victims, but also his own solicitors and barrister at trial by lying about being sick.
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