A 28-year-old asylum seeker who raped a schoolgirl after tricking her into meeting him lied and told police that he was a 16-year-old virgin. Abdul Khan, who snuck into the UK illegally in the back of a lorry, had posed as a gym-loving teenage schoolboy to trick a besotted 13-year-old girl into meeting him.
Grooming and Deception
Khan, who was assisted in court by a Pashto interpreter and hails from Afghanistan, used the name 'Abs' to establish a Snapchat account in which he posted headless photographs to groom potential victims. He had also been exchanging sexual messages with another unsuspecting child when the girl agreed to meet him, and police believe he may have bombarded teen girls with friend requests on the social media platform in an attempt to snare a victim.
After gaining her trust, Khan arranged to meet the unsuspecting girl after her lessons finished on May 14 last year, meeting her at a tram stop after she had left her Nottingham secondary school. He then took the terrified girl to Scout Wood Nature Reserve in Clifton, Nottinghamshire, where he raped her.
Victim's Testimony
The 13-year-old revealed how she has flashbacks, no longer trusts people and no longer wants to wear her school uniform after Khan removed it before launching his sex attack. She said after her ordeal was over she went home and messaged a friend telling him “I have been raped”. She then said she told her father who alerted police.
In her police video, the schoolgirl was asked to describe in detail what happened to her. She said: “I am here because I met up with a man called Abs and before that we were chatting for about a week. He was being really sexual and he manipulated me into sending nudes to him. When I did meet up with him he raped me.”
The girl, whose identity is protected by law, said the paedophile insisted he was 14 and repeatedly tried to kiss her as he took her by tram to the isolated nature reserve. She added: “He unbuttoned my trousers and started to kiss me and put me on the floor, I was frightened. I was trying not to panic. He literally told me to get on the floor.” Asked what happened to her underwear, she replied: “He took them off.”
Investigation and Conviction
Kevin Jones, prosecuting, had earlier told the trial how when the girl met the rapist at the tram stop she was “somewhat surprised at his appearance as he did not appear to be the person in the photos.” Mr Jones said following the attack the teenager’s school trousers were swabbed, examined and DNA and weeks later were found to match Khan – after he was arrested in connection with sending sexual images to another child from his Snapchat account.
He said: “Khan was arrested by Derbyshire police on an unconnected matter and his phone was recovered. That matter was sexual communication with a child from April 21, 2025 where he was sending sexualised Snapchat messages with a child. His phone was examined and showed messages had been exchanged between the defendant and (the Clifton) victim. He said he entered the UK in the back of a lorry in 2015 and gave a date of birth as December 26, 2004 in an asylum application. He was interviewed under caution and said he was nearly 16 and had never had sex in his life.”
Police were alerted and forensic officers were able to link Khan directly to the crime scene through DNA evidence recovered from the victim's school clothing. Subsequently message logs recovered from his mobile phone also confirmed the illicit online chat between him and his victim.
Sentencing
Last week following a four-day trial Khan was convicted by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court of rape, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming, and perverting the course of justice. Jailing Khan Judge Mark Watson said: “She thought she was communicating with a 14-year-old boy because that is what you told her. That was a lie. It was your intention that when you met her you would be having sex with a girl who was 14. She gave evidence that she did not want this to happen, her fear came from the unknown. She was 13 and very much out of her depth. She has, on any view, been profoundly affected. Your sentence will mean automatic deportation.”
As well as the jail term, Khan was placed on the sex offender register for life.
