A man who gave drugs to under age-girls and then had sex with them has been jailed for a total of 12 years.

Saquib Hamid, 35, formerly of Old Church Road, Enderby, was found guilty of 25 counts of supplying drugs, engaging in sexual activity with a child, and attempting to involve a child in prostitution.

Detective Inspector Rich Hiom leads the child sexual exploitation team at Leicestershire Police. He said:

“Hamid was a sexual predator. He gave cocaine and other drugs to the girls as part of the grooming process in order to have sex with them.

“With one of the girls, he went on and tried to involve her in prostitution. Fortunately his attempt failed.

“He had seven different victims, and I believe he could have continued being a danger to other girls.”

Hamid was convicted of possession with intent to supply, supplying drugs to the girls, engaging in sexual activity with a child and inciting a child to engage in prostitution.

As well as the 12 year sentence, he will be on the Sex Offender Register for life.

He will also have a Sexual Offender Prevention Order which restricts his future contact with children.

Leicestershire Police joined the local safeguarding children’s boards and other agencies to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation among potential victims and their parents/carers.

This included delivering more than 100,000 leaflets to schools, business and places of worship last year.

The campaign was called “Could you spot the signs?”

DI Hiom said that although child sexual exploitation was rare, children and their parents or carers should look out for the signs. These can include:

• Having mood swings or being emotionally upset.
• Changes in physical appearance.
• Changes in eating patterns.
• Misusing alcohol or drugs.
• Chatting online to people the child has never met.
• Appearing with unexplained gifts or new possessions.
• Being in a relationship with or associating with an older person.
• Increased or secretive mobile phone and computer use or in possession of multiple phones.
• Showing inappropriate sexualised behaviour.
• Suffering from sexually transmitted infections.
• Associating with other young people involved in exploitation.
• Regularly missing school or not taking part in education.
• Regularly going missing for periods of time or returning home late.

For more details, see: www.lrlscb.org/leaflets