Ex-Labour peer 'raped boy' and 'tried to rape girl' in the 1970s

A former Labour peer attempted to rape a girl and alongside his two brothers sexually assaulted a boy when growing up in Rotherham, jury members in a historical sex offences trial heard this week. 

Lord Nazir Ahmed, 63, and his two brothers, Mohammed Tariq, 65, and Mohammed Farouq, 70, are accused of sexually abusing their alleged victim in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Former Labour peer Ahmed is also accused of raping the boy, as well as two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16.

Ahmed and Tariq were teens at the time of the alleged offences, while Farouq was in his late teens moving into his early 20s.

Ahmed, who denies the allegations, and his two brothers, who were ruled unfit to plead, are on trial at Sheffield Crown Court. 

Jury members heard the alleged offences took place at various addresses in Rotherham, South Yorks., where the men grew up.

Tariq, who is charged with two indecent assaults against a boy under 14, and Farouq, who is accused of four indecent assaults against a boy under 14, were previously found unfit to plead on medical grounds and are facing a so-called trial of the facts.

Jury members are unable to return verdicts of guilty or not guilty, but can decide whether the alleged offences took place or not. Ahmed faces a full trial.