Azad Miah abused girls as young as 12

A takeaway boss has been jailed for 15 years after paying under-age girls for sex and inciting others to become child prostitutes.

Azad Miah, 44, targeted his victims in what the prosecution at Carlisle Crown Court described as a "cold, clinical exploitation of the desperate and vulnerable".

The married father-of-four paid for the sexual services of two teenagers who were both introduced to him by the same woman.

One of those girls was encouraged to have sex with him out of desperation for cash when she was 15, while he had a sexual relationship with the other, a heroin addict, when she was aged between 15 and 17.

A jury also found the Bangladeshi national guilty yesterday of inciting three other girls, one as young as 12, into prostitution, while running a brothel above his former Spice of India shop in Carlisle city centre.

The court heard the 12-year-old complained to police on three occasions about him persistently harassing her in 2008, three years before his eventual arrest.

She was bombarded with up to 50 texts a day from Miah, who demanded sex. He told her that "in his country it didn't matter about age".

Many of the girls in the case were addicted to drugs or came from troubled backgrounds. Some were known to local care authorities.

Prostitutes at Miah's brothel were also asked to find young girls, who he described as "fresh meat".

On Tuesday, Judge Peter Hughes QC said police needed to learn lessons from not heeding her complaint and that there were a number of "missed opportunities".

Judge Hughes said: "This case reveals the seedier side of life in our town and city centres and what can happen to vulnerable and immature girls.

"There are lessons from this case for all of us to learn.

"There are lessons for parents to learn whose responsibility it is to protect their children.