Gang victims' ordeal

A JUDGE who jailed an eastern European grooming gang has paid tribute to their victims' courage.

- BY TOM WILKINSON

Gang member Paun, left; clockwise from above, Dura, Aleksiu, Gugiuman, Ciuraru

Five men from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, were jailed for between 18 months and 14 years for offences against six girls aged 13-16.

The victims were targeted between 2014 and 2019 and sometimes plied with alcohol or cocaine before being sexually abused, a court heard.

Some of the gang were only a few years older than the victims, who sometimes thought they were in a relationship before being exploited.

Some of the offending centred around Saltwell Park where the men, four originally from Romania and one from Albania, met to play football.

Bogdan Gugiuman, 44, was jailed for 14 years after being convicted of three counts of rape and supplying a class A drug.

Codrin Dura, 27, guilty of four rapes, four counts of sexual activity with a child, blackmail, attempted rape, serious sexual assault and supplying a class A drug got 13 years.