Man jailed after child sexual exploitation probe

Javaid Akhond was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin

Javaid Akhond, 20, preyed on young girls, luring them into sex by splashing the cash and inviting them to drink-fuelled house parties.

One victim – aged just 12 when targeted while she was out ice skating with friends – told a jury how she thought he “loved” her.

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Akhond was snared as part of the Police Scotland’s Operation Dash – set up in 2013 to root out child sexual exploitation across the Strathclyde area.

He is now in jail after a judge today locked him for six years in what is thought to be the probe’s first conviction.

Akhond arrived in Scotland as a teenager seeking asylum from Afghanistan and got a job working in a fast food restaurant.

He built up a close network of friends and Akhond soon began frequenting Glasgow city centre on the hunt for young “highly impressionable” girls.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard told a jury at the High Court in Glasgow: “Javaid Akhond was a man who set off on an easily recognisable course of criminal conduct towards females of a certain age bracket and had sex with them whether the law allowed or not.

“In one girl’s words ‘he wasn’t bothered’.”

He first started grooming a 12 year-old girl in 2011 after approaching her as she was ice skating with friends in the city’s George Square.

The youngster initially claimed she was 16 – but within days Akhond found out her true age.

But the court heard that ‘made no odds’ to him.

Akhond repeatedly pestered the child to visit his flat in the city’s Shawlands and eventually she agreed.

The girl recalled: “I went to the flat more than once – he made suggestions what we do.

“He wanted us to spend time together in a different room. I thought he loved me and wanted to talk about it.”

The court heard how with a “sordid inevitability” Akhond eventually had sex with the youngster.

Akhond then targeted the girl’s 13 year-old friend – and tried to impress by buying her clothes and taking her for meals.

This youngster told the jury: “I thought it was good at the time, but I feel he used me. He wanted me to get closer to him and promised me all this stuff.”

Akhond invited her to boozy house parties - where a string of other young girls were also present – and eventually had sex with her as well.

He then went on to have intercourse with a 15 year-old girl in 2013.

Akhond was convicted of a string of charges following a trial last month.

This included raping the first girl – due to the fact she was under 13 – and having underage sex with the two others girls.

He was also found guilty of two grooming charges and two charges of assault.

Lord Turnbull today jailed Akhond for a total of six years.

The judge said: “The evidence satisfied me that you actively sought out to target and groom young vulnerable girls who you knew to be much younger than you and who you expected to be impressionable.

“The conduct you were convicted of constitutes serious sexual offending.”

The Operation Dash probe was set up with officers working in partnership with the charity Barnardo’s Scotland.

It was reported earlier this year that some cases of sexual exploitation being investigated bore similarities to the organised abuse of youngsters in Rotherham.