Paedophile Imam flees country on fake passport after guilty sexual assault verdict

An Imam who was found guilty of sexually assaulting young girls at a mosque has fled the country using a fake passport.

Hafiz Rahman, 58, was found guilty of five charges of sexually assaulting two young girls at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.

One of his victims was just six at the time of the attacks.

Granddad-of-ten Rahman, who has seven children, was not in court to hear the verdicts after his defence counsel Tariq Shakoor said he was unwell.

Fled: Hafiz Rahman told Wolverhampton Crown Court that he was unwell (Google)

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However, while the jury were considering the evidence, Rahman flew to Bangladesh to avoid being jailed.

Rahman, who was the Imam at the Queens Cross mosque in Cradley Heath, West Mids., handed in his own passport to his solicitors as part of the bail conditions.

But he managed to buy a one-way ticket to Bangladesh using false documents before illegally leaving the UK 24 hours later.

Judge Nicholas Cartwright said: “I can only infer he decided to avoid sentence for these sexual assaults and he has no intention of returning voluntarily.”

Historic abuse: Rahman assaulted girls at the Queens Cross mosque in Cradley Heath (Google)

An investigation is set to take place to determine what assets that Rahman left behind could be seized, while Judge Cartwright issued a warrant for his arrest.

The court heard Rahman launched a string of attacks between March 1986 and August 1987.

Prosecutor Peter Arnold said the girls had gone to the mosque for religious studies when they were touched sexually by the Imam.

Rahman, who had a Bengali interpreter, was arrested in March 2014 when he denied sexually assaulting or even knowing the girl.