The ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, convicted last month after an 11-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court can now be unmasked after a separate trial has found him guilty of 30 counts of rape.

Shabir Ahmed, 59, led a child sex exploitation ring of nine men who targeted vulnerable young girls in the Rochdale and Oldham areas of Greater Manchester.

The court heard how Ahmed, a father-of-four, raped an under-age girl above a Heywood takeaway where he worked as a delivery driver before 'sharing' her among his friends.

Greater Manchester Police have said that "Ahmed systematically abused his victim over the course of 14 years. The abuse began when she was just three years old and continued until she was 17."

Ahmed could not be named previously because of the ongoing separate trial.

The accused reportedly behaved 'outrageously' during the Liverpool trial, on one occasion removing his t-shirt and ripping out clumps of his own chest hair in front of the judge in a bid to demonstrate that he would have left follicles of his own hair at the scene of his crimes.

He is also said to have repeatedly accused the judge, the jury, and the police of being part of a racist conspiracy against Muslims.

On May 8 2012 Ahmed was convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, trafficking a child within the UK, two counts of rape, rape being aider and abetter and sexual assault. He was jailed for 19 years. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Ahmed denied all of the charges against him, claiming the allegations had been made up. He will be sentenced relating to this trial on Thursday 2 August 2012.

Photograph via Greater Manchester Police.