Four men and a woman who preyed on teenage girls in north Wales have been jailed for their roles in a grooming gang. The victims of the group were aged 14, 15 and 16 at the time of the abuse in the seaside town of Rhyl, Denbighshire.

The ringleader of the gang Mustafa Iqbal was jailed for 35 years after being convicted of 21 offences, including four rapes and three of sexual assault involving all three of the girls. Three other men and a woman were also jailed for their roles.

It followed one of the most complex investigations carried out by North Wales Police into sexual exploitation, much of it in secret with the offenders unaware the case was being built against them.

In August 2025 during a series of co-ordinated police raids across Rhyl, the men involved were arrested.

During a trial, jurors heard how a popular coffee house was used for the men to meet each other, with the girls approached on the street.

They were then given cannabis, and asked to play a game of "spin the bottle" before being abused.

"This investigation was really complex," explained Det Ch Insp Richard Sidney, the man leading the inquiry.

"First of all we had the challenges of getting the accounts from the victims, they were really difficult accounts to give.

"They had to show real strength in doing that." The police team then had to analyse hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, phone records and travel patterns to piece together the true picture of the abuse being carried out.

"Our focus as a team was getting justice for the victims and safeguarding the community," said the senior detective.

The investigators spent several weeks gaining the trust of the three victims as they slowly revealed what had happened to them.

It involved help from social service teams and charities, including the children's charity Barnado's, along with specialist support from the Hydrant Programme - a national police initiative to tackle child abuse "I don't think I could articulate how difficult it was for them," said Det Sgt Keira Williams, another key member of the investigation team.

"We just made sure we went at their pace, they were allowing us insight into what it was like to be the victim of an incredibly horrendous crime.

"The most we could do was be patient and allow them to give us their account in their own time." During a trial over three months, a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court heard how Mustafa Iqbal initially targeted a 14 and 15-year-old he spotted in Rhyl in April 2022.

The 43-year-old persuaded them to go back to his home in the town, where they were later joined by local coffee shop owner, Mohamed Usman Arshad and his friend Ziaullah Badshah. The jury heard how the two girls claimed they were 17, smoked cannabis with the men and played a game of "spin the bottle". Badshah, who is 25 and arrived in Rhyl as a refugee from Pakistan when he was 15, admitted kissing 15-year-old Child B and 14-year-old Child C there, and on later occasions having sex with Child B at his own home in the town. Arshad, 36, denied he had ever had a sexual relationship with Child B, but was found guilty of rape, after a sex act in an alleyway outside his former business - Zayn's Coffee House.

Iqbal was also found guilty of raping Child B, and also sexually assaulting Child C.

The coffee house was one of the key connections linking the offenders, where the abusers either helped out or met. At the time, it was voted the town's business with the friendliest staff - masking the dark secrets held by owner Arshad and the rest of the grooming gang. It was also there at the coffee shop that the final man in the conspiracy became involved, ultimately leading to it being uncovered.

Jaswinder Singh, 61, would let Arshad drive his car, when they would pick up Child B and C, driving them around.

Under the pretence of asking 15-year-old Child B to look after his dog, the British-born former builder persuaded her to join him on a trip to London to meet family and friends. But there, an adult raised concerns about Singh's real motive, and alerted the police.

As well as being involved in the Rhyl take-away food scene, he was known as a local drug dealer.

It was in that role he began grooming another victim, 16-year-old Child A. He supplied her with crack cocaine and cannabis in return for sex. He roped in the help of 53-year-old Sarah Gray from nearby Gronant with the offer of more drugs if he could use her home to carry out the abuse.

But again concerns about the victim were flagged to police, reopening the entire investigation into the gang. Those at the centre of the abuse refused to acknowledge they had been involved.

Iqbal gave police a no comment interview, and later during his trial refused to take to the witness stand to defend his actions.

Married cafe owner Arshad tried to convince the jury he was an upstanding member of the Rhyl business community who would not risk his reputation by carrying out sexual acts in view of his own premises.

Badshah, the youngest of the groomers, insisted he only discovered the victims age when he found himself under arrest.

Meanwhile, Singh portrayed himself as nothing more than a jovial friend who liked a drink and talked a lot. The jury did not believe them. "I think all the way through the investigation we saw victim-blaming language from the offenders," said Sidney.

"It seemed they had no recollection or understanding of the harm they were causing to the victims.

"These were horrific offences over a prolonged period of time that really demonstrated how serious the offending was and exacerbated the impact on the victims. "These men targeted these children, and I think they did that because they thought they could manipulate them easier, do things that adults wouldn't do - that was for their own sexual gratification. "They were predators preying on children - because they were children.

"There was a total disregard for their offending. There was a total disregard for their criminality." During the sentencing hearing, the court heard that Child C now suffers from panic attacks and anxiety at the thought of going to Rhyl, and has damaged relationships as she has grown-up. In a victim impact statement, she said: "This has been the most traumatic experience I have ever faced.

"Although I feel that I have dealt with it well, I know that it is something I will never forget and will have to learn to live with." A safeguarding review is now due to take place by the North Wales Safeguarding Board into how the grooming gang was able to operate and target vulnerable victims.

It will also have to address questions for North Wales Police who began an initial investigation into the grooming back in 2022 but took a decision not to proceed.

It was only when Iqbal went on to rape his third victim that those investigations were reopened, leading to the arrests of the whole gang in August 2025.

The judge told the court that he would expect the matter to be a focus for reflection. Jailing the gang, Judge Simon Mills described Iqbal as "devious and thoroughly manipulative".

He said the offender posed an ongoing risk to the public, especially young teenage girls.

In addition to the jail sentence for ringleader Iqbal, Arshad was given a 19-year prison term for his role, Badshah was jailed for 17 years, and Singh for eight years.

Sarah Gray was also handed an eight-year prison sentence for was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender. She helped Iqbal try to cover up the rapes of the 16-year-old child at her own home. All four men were told they will remain on a sex offenders indefinitely.

North Wales Police said it hoped their investigation sent a clear message to those living in Rhyl and beyond. "I understand the community will be shocked that this has happened where they live. I hope they get some reassurance that we've demonstrated that we take this sort of offending seriously."