An asylum seeker who posed as a teenager on social media to groom and rape a 13-year-old girl has been jailed for nine and a half years. Abdul Khan, believed to be 28, arrived in the UK hidden in a lorry in 2015 and now faces automatic deportation to Afghanistan after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
Crime and Conviction
Khan, currently at HMP Nottingham, was already serving a 23-month sentence for sexual communication with another child in Derbyshire. Last week, a jury found him guilty of two counts of rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming, and perverting the course of justice.
The four-day trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard how Khan contacted his victim on Snapchat, pretending to be a 14-year-old boy. They met at a nature reserve in Clifton, Nottingham, where he raped her twice in May 2025 after an initial encounter the jury deemed consensual.
Victim Impact
The victim was in court on Monday, August 10, as prosecutor Dawn Pritchard read her personal statement to Judge Mark Watson. The statement said she "feels numb when she thinks back to how she felt at the time" and "felt scared of the world after it happened and felt overwhelmed." She added, "When she has flashbacks she sees his face and what happened. She feels like she can't trust anyone."
Defence barrister Andrew Wesley said he could not provide personal mitigation because Khan disputes the identity and age under which he was prosecuted.
Judge's Remarks
Judge Watson told Khan: "You deliberately concealed your true identity. She (the 13-year-old) thought she was communicating with a child of her own age. It was a lie you have persisted with throughout these proceedings." The court heard that when the victim met Khan, she realized he was older, and he claimed to be 16.
The judge called Khan's claims about his age "nonsensical" and said, "The police were called by her father, after learning from her that she had been raped. She has on any view been profoundly affected, as her parents must also have been. Your sentence will mean automatic deportation."
Khan, who hid his face as he left the dock, must also register as a sex offender indefinitely.
