Nelson boxer jailed for sex act with girl (14)

Burnley Crown Court was told how Atif Mushtaq (27), of Hendon Road, Nelson, would take the girl out in his BMW to secluded places where they would hug and kiss.

On two separate occasions, he made the girl perform a sex act on him.

Mr Joe Allman (prosecuting) told the court the pair had met when Mushtaq was driving past a shop in Nelson where the victim and her friend were talking to a man.

They began talking, exchanged mobile telephone numbers and the girl told Mushtaq she was 18. He said he was 21.

The pair began seeing each other over the next month and Mushtaq bought the girl a telephone on which they sent each other intimate photos of themselves.

One night in September last year, a police patrol found Mushtaq’s car parked in Boston Street, Nelson, with the girl in the passenger seat, and arrested the defendant.

Details of the sex offences emerged in police interviews with the girl.

Miss Leila Ghaharry (defending) said Mushtaq, who admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child at the original hearing in October, should be given credit for his guilty plea.

He had been granted a professional boxing licence in 2012 which he had now lost and his conduct had brought shame on his family and community.

She gave letters to the court in which friends spoke of their shock when they heard of the charges against him.

In passing sentence, Judge Beverley Lunt said Mushtaq had groomed the girl by taking her out and buying her cocaine, and had admitted in a statement he had wanted to have sex with her.

“The girl had found out on the internet you were 26 and asked you stop seeing her but you pursued her despite the significant disparity in your ages,” she said.

Mushtaq was banned from working with young people for life.