Gateshead grooming gang who compelled woman to have intercourse with 3 males in at some point are jailed
Codrin Dura, Leonard Paun, Bogdan Gugiuman, Klaudio Aleksiu and Stefan Ciuraru have been jailed after plying young girls with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them
Five members of an East European grooming gang have been jailed for between 18 months and 14 years after teenage girls in Gateshead were given drugs and alcohol and then sexually exploited.
Northumbria Police launched an inquiry into offending against six victims between 2014 and 2019, centred on the Saltwell Park area of Tyneside. Officers uncovered exploitation of girls aged between 13 and 16, leading to multiple rape charges being brought.
An eight-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court ended with convictions for four Romanians and an Albanian, who lived in the Bensham area at the time.
Bogdan Gugiuman, 44, of Westbourne Avenue, Gateshead, who was found guilty of three counts of rape and supplying a Class A drug. He was jailed for 14 years and was in his mid-30s and married when he committed the offences.
Codrin Dura, 27, of Ripon Street, Gateshead, who was found guilty of four counts of rape, four counts of sexual activity with a child, blackmail, attempted rape, serious sexual assault, supplying a Class A drug and arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence. He was jailed for 13 years.
Albanian Klaudio Aleksiu, 28, of Church Terrace, Windsor, who was found guilty of rape. He was jailed for six years.
Leonard Paun, 23, of Windsor Avenue, Gateshead, who was found guilty of five counts of rape, two counts of arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, supplying a Class A drug and distributing photos of a child. He was jailed for five years and one month.
Stefan Ciuraru, 22, of Brinkburn Avenue, Gateshead, who was found guilty of four counts of sexual assault, sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was jailed for 18 months, given his youth at the time of the offending.
During the trial, prosecutor Anne Richardson painted a picture of the six vulnerable girls involved, one of whom was reported missing at one point. She highlighted their “unhappy home lives” and dependency on some of the defendants.
She stated: “These are allegations of sexual exploitation of girls in the Gateshead area. Some of the girls were immature, vulnerable, and seeking to please as a way of gaining attention to themselves.
“These personality traits were exploited by some of the defendants to greater or lesser extents. Many of the complainants were given alcohol or cigarettes in exchange for sexual favours. It is easy to make assumptions based on their relative youth, but in due course, you may consider it’s not always apparent to someone that what they are engaged in is in fact abusive.”
The court heard allegations that one girl was given cocaine and developed an addiction at a tender age. Another was allegedly coerced into having sex with three men in a single day.
Ms Richardson detailed how one girl was taken to a “prostitute house”, where she consumed drugs with one of the defendants. During his alleged offences, Dura reportedly had a sexually transmitted infection and engaged in sexual activity with one of the girls.
One victim, aged between 13 and 15 when she was exploited, and now in her 20s, told the court how it had impacted her life.
Speaking from the jury box, she said Dura had controlled her. “It was like he had a spell on me,” she said. “It was like I was held hostage and had to play a role.”
She added: “I feel like he has taken so much away from me, I always try to bury it.” Dura raped her after luring her to his home on the pretext he would delete an intimate photo he had been threatening to show to her parents.
A second victim read her statement to the court saying: “I was naive and impressionable and it made it easy for me to be preyed upon.” Mrs Richardson read the statement of a third victim, who became addicted to cocaine as a teenager.
She said: “This whole experience has massively changed my view of men for life. I am petrified of all men. There are so many things that trigger my pain, I don’t know if I will ever lead a normal life.”
Mrs Richardson said it was clear that this victim had suffered “significant psychological harm”.
The court heard mitigation for four of the defendants. Josh Normanton, for Dura, said he came to the UK as a boy with his family who were economic migrants from Romania, and he was unable to speak English when he arrived.
“He was someone who was more immature than his age,” his barrister said. He comes from a family who are hard-working, polite and extremely concerned for him.”
Glenn Gatland, for Paun, said his client came to the UK with just his mother, and his father died after joining them later. He has since become a caring father, Mr Gatland said. “He is someone quite capable of rehabilitation,” he said.
Sue Hirst, for Gugiuman, who is Paun’s cousin, said he was of previous good character and is married with three teenage boys.
Shada Mellor, for Aleksiu, who is Albanian, said the delay in bringing the case to trial had impacted his mental health. He has since moved to the south of England and has a partner and a child, she said.
Mitigation for Ciuraru was given at a previous hearing.
