Asylum seeker, 28, who raped 13-year-old schoolgirl after posing as a boy on Snapchat is jailed for nine years

AN ASYLUM seeker who took a 13-year-old Nottingham schoolgirl into the woods and raped her has been jailed for nine-and-a-half years. The young victim told the court how the sex attack had left her unable to trust people, suffering flashbacks and led her to self-harm. An asylum seeker who raped a 13-year-old schoolgirl has been jailed at Nottingham Crown CourtCredit: Refer to source Abdul Khan, 28, was sentenced to nine years behind bars Abdul Khan, 28, was today sentenced to nine years and six months behind bars at Nottingham Crown Court. The court was told how Khan had used social media platform Snapchat to groom the teenager by posing as a 14-year-old boy. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! He then lured her to a location in Clifton, Nottingham, where he carried out his sex attack. A jury unanimously convicted Khan of two counts of rape, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming, and perverting the course of justice, all of which he had denied. Sending the 28-year-old to prison, Judge Mark Watson said: “She thought she was communicating with a 14-year-old boy because that is what you told her. “That was a lie. It was your intention that when you met her you would be having sex with a girl who was 14. “She gave evidence that she did not want this to happen, her fear came from the unknown. She was 13 and very much out of her depth. “She has, on any view, been profoundly affected. Your sentence will mean automatic deportation.” Most read in The Sun Khan was found guilty of rape following a four-day trial at Nottingham Crown Court last week. In a victim impact statement the teen, whose identity is protected by law and who bravely faced her attacker in court, said: “I feel numb when I think back to that time and I feel like I have lost my emotions. “I was emotionless for a few months and woke up having panic attacks. I have flashbacks of the defendant three or four times a week which make me feel like self-harming. “My family are more anxious about me going out and I don’t want to wear a school uniform because I was wearing that at the time of the incident. “I feel like since it happened I can’t trust anyone.” Prosecutor Kevin Jones, opening the trial, said the sex attack happened in Scout Wood Nature Reserve on May 14 last year. He said: “(The victim) received a friend request from someone called Abs on Snapchat. She told him she was 14 (when she was actually 13) and he said he was also 14. “On May 14 she received a message asking if she was at school and she said she was and would be out later sending him a pin saying where she was and he said ‘I’ll meet you there’. “They met at the Summerwood Lane tram stop and she was somewhat surprised at his appearance as he did not appear to be the person in the photos. “On the way to a friend’s house he tried to kiss her. They went to the friend’s house and were there for minutes before they left. She told her friend they were going to the woods. “When they got to the woods, Abs started to unbutton her trousers and told her to get on the floor, she said she complied as she was trying not to panic.” Mr Jones said Khan raped her, she went home alone and when she arrived home her father was in. He said her school trousers were swabbed, examined and there was a DNA match to Khan. “Mr Khan was arrested by Derbyshire Police on an unconnected matter and his phone was recovered,” he continued. “His phone was examined and showed messages had been exchanged between the defendant and the victim. “He said he entered the UK in the back of a lorry in 2015 and gave a date of birth as December 26, 2004 in an asylum application. He was interviewed under caution and said he was nearly 16 and had never had sex in his life.” Andrew Wesley, mitigating, said his client arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry from Afghanistan in 2015. He said: “There is little I can add in mitigation bearing in mind the jury’s findings.” As well as the jail term, Khan, of HMP Nottingham, was placed on the sex offender register for life.