TWO pervert brothers who preyed on teenage girls in a Bury park were branded "despicable and sickening" by the judge who jailed them.

Muhammad Hussain, 20, and Hashim Hussain, 24, were caged for a total of over ten years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after they were convicted of a string of sexual offences ranging from rape to taking indecent images of a child.

Muhammad Hussain was sentenced to six years and two months in prison after a jury found him guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting another girl, also aged 14.

His elder brother was sentenced to four years behind bars after he filmed his friends engaging in sexual activity with two other girls, aged 16 and 17, on two separate occasions.

The court heard how the offences took place between August 2016 and August 2017 when the brothers were aged 16 and 20.

Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting, described how the pair began socialising with a group of teenage girls in Openshaw Park with the brothers buying vodka which they would share with their underage victims.

One of the girls, who was aged 14, was in care and said to be at "high risk of child sexual exploitation" when she was targeted.

One evening the group left the park to go to a house party where she was encouraged to "go upstairs" with 16-year-old Muhammad to have consensual sex.

But despite the girl asking him to stop, Mr Blackshaw said Muhammad pushed her face into a pillow and carried on before she managed to escape.

Under pressure from friends and Muhammad, who threatened to tell her boyfriend if she did not "finish him off", she later returned to the bedroom.

Mr Blackshaw said Muhammad later apologised for what had happened but urged the girl to send him explicit pictures of herself.

In March 2017, the pair were at another house when Muhammed filmed the girl and her friend performing a sex act on him with the accused later claiming he had been trying to use the torch on his mobile phone.

Choosing to read her victim impact statement to the court in person, the girl, now aged 18, said the incident had "ruined her life".

“It took away my childhood,” she said. “After what happened, I went off the rails.

"It affected everything."

Mr Blackshaw went on to describe another incident in August 2017 when Muhammad approached another 14-year-old girl in Openshaw Park and thrust his hands down her leggings and grabbed her bottom with such force that it left "fingernail impressions" on her skin.

Hashim's behaviour was discovered by officers when he was arrested following a driving offence in October 2017.

Officers found a video of a young girl's breasts being touched in the park by a man as a group of onlookers cheered.

Another video showed an older man having sex with a teenage girl in the kitchen of a house while a group of men watched.

Officers were able to identify Hashim as the man who filmed the incidents due to a distinctive watch he wore.

Hashim was arrested at Manchester Airport in July 2019 as he returned to England on a flight from Pakistan.

Both men denied their offences, but were later found guilty following a four week trial with Muhammad, of South Cross Street, Bury, convicted of two counts of rape, as well as one count of taking an indecent image and another count of sexual assault.

Hashim, also of South Cross, Bury, was convicted of two counts of taking an indecent image of a child, and two counts of possessing an indecent image of a child.

Defending Hashim, Nicholas Clarke, said the footage filmed by his client was of consensual sex and likened it to pornography available on the internet.

"In the videos those girls came to no harm," he said. "No harm was caused by the taking of those videos. What blame does Hashim have for what was shown on those videos?

"The content of the video is not a criminal act. It is sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl over the age of consent.

"There are ten billion videos of this nature that the government have not sought to prohibit - they are available to everybody. This is indecency of the lowest level - grotesque, I agree, but grotesque and lawful."

Defending, Mohammad, Hunter Gray, said, the 20-year-old was "trying to move on with his life" and was now married with a seven month old baby who lived with his wife in Pakistan.

"They rely on him financially for support," said Mr Gray. "He is co-operative, polite, has understanding of the nature of the allegations made against him and doesn't seek to condone this sort of behaviour in any shape or form.

"The offences coincide with an age when he was a teenager and no doubt like many teenagers he was looking for some escape from his home life and was pushing the boundaries, exploring alcohol, exploring sex and maturing and growing up in the process but certainly making mistakes along the way and no different in some respects to many other teenagers.

"He has moved on from that and gone on to far more constructive way of life."

Sentencing Muhammad, who had no previous convictions, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said he had shown "no indication of regret of remorse".

“What started as consensual sexual activity between the two of you became something very different," he said. “She may have initially consented to penetration but when she asked you to stop because it was hurting her, you simply ignored her and carried on regardless.

“It was a clear example of you putting your own sexual gratification before giving any real or genuine consideration to the feelings of others.”

Turning to Hashim, who had previous convictions including for sexual assault and driving offences, Recorder Lasker, said: "You filmed a 16-year-old girl intoxicated in the park displaying her naked breasts while other adult men stood around cheering.

"Three days later, you filmed a 17-year-old in a kitchen while an older male was having intercourse with her. A number of other males, including your co-accused, were seen gathered around.

"The jury rejected the submission made on your behalf that because these sorts of images are so freely accessible on the internet that moral values have changed in such a way that these images could no longer be described as indecent.

"You kept these images as a trophy and they were still on your phone a number of months later. I have come to the conclusion that although these girls may well have been consenting to what was being done to them, they were both the victims of abuse by older men, whether or not they realised it at the time and you were playing your part in this abuse by filming them."