Grooming gang jailed for raping girls

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Five men who were part of a grooming gang that raped and sexually assaulted girls they met in a park have been jailed for terms ranging between 18 months and 14 years.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the four Romanian men and one Albanian targeted vulnerable girls in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, between 2015 and 2019.

One of the six victims was a 14-year-old girl who became addicted to cocaine given to her by the men and was then passed around for sex, prosecutors said.

An impact statement read to the court on behalf of one of the victims, said she was "petrified of all men".

Referred to as Girl B to protect her anonymity, she said: "I don't know whether I will ever live a normal life. I am on edge all the time especially if I am on my own."

She added she felt overwhelmed and cried often.

Judge Tim Gittins paid tribute to the girls who suffered the abuse.

"I hope they think of themselves - as I do - as survivors not as victims," he said.

The gang of men had been found guilty of the offences at a trial in October.

Codrin Dura, 27, was jailed for 13 years for two counts of rape, three counts of sexual activity with a child, attempted rape, blackmail and sexual assault all relating to one girl known as Girl A to protect her identity.

Dura was also found guilty of two counts of raping a second girl, Girl B, and convicted of arranging the commission of a child sex offence and supplying Class A drugs.

Leanoard Paun, 24, was sentenced to five years and one month in jail for sexual activity with a child and one count of rape in relation to Girl B, two counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence, distributing an indecent image of a child and supplying Class A drugs.

The offences were committed when Paun was aged between 15 and 17, the court heard, and Judge Gittins said he had sought to "belittle" his victims and used alcohol and drugs to groom them.

Bogdan Gugiuman, 44, was jailed for 14 years for three counts of rape relating to Girl B, and convicted of supplying Class A drugs.

The judge said he showed "no expression of remorse" for what he did to the girl, who was 14 at the time.

Albanian national Klaudio Aleksiu, 28, was handed a six-year jail term for one count of raping Girl B. He was aged 21 and 22 at the time of the offence.

Stefan Ciuraru, 23, was sentenced to 18 months in jailfor four counts of sexual assault relating to girls B, C and D, sexual activity with a child, Girl E, and inciting a child, Girl F, to engage in sexual activity.

The judge said Ciuraru, who was aged between 15 and 16 at the time of the crimes, "relentlessly targeted" his victims and felt he was "entitled" to behave in this way.

He added the defendants' nationalities were "irrelevant to the sentencing process" and the ages of most of them at the time of their offences placed "considerable constraint on the sentences I may impose upon them".

Det Ch Insp Graeme Barr, the senior investigating officer, said it had taken time to piece together the "horrific offending".

"The girls had their childhood snatched from them in the cruellest of ways by predators who targeted them as vulnerable members of our community.," he said.

"As a result of their incredible bravery now as young women, the offenders have been brought to justice."

Charlotte Dennison, head of the rape and serious sexual offences unit at the North East Crown Prosecution Service, said it was clear from the victims' statements that the impact on them had been "immeasurable".

"Those sentenced today preyed on the vulnerabilities of the victims for their own sexual gratification and have shown no remorse for their actions," she added.

• This article was updated on 15 January 2026 after it incorrectly stated Klaudio Aleksiu was jailed for supplying Class A drugs. He was in fact found not guilty of that offence.

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