Life sentence for ‘reign of terror’

AN EVIL torturer and rapist who subjected four women to a ‘reign of terror’ that scarred their lives has been given four life sentences.

Former bank employee Iqbal Ali (33), was told he will serve at least sixteen and a half years before he can be considered for parole.

Ali of Broadway, Chadderton, showed no sign of emotion when a jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on 25 charges against him. He was equally impassive when sentence was passed the following day at Manchester Crown Court, which was packed with his victims and their families.

All the jurors who tried him returned to court to see justice done.

Trial judge Mushtaq Khokhar told him he was a danger to society and that justice would be offended if any lesser sentence had been passed. He said one of the most concerning features was that Ali had never once shown a scrap of remorse for his actions.

Ali’s last victim, with whom he had a relationship for around seven years, was so badly injured by him she would have died but for emergency surgery last October. He had strangled her to the point of unconsciousness on several occasions and punched her in the neck, fracturing her larynx.

Described as an intelligent and articulate man by the judge, Ali regularly tortured her by burning her naked arms, legs, body and neck with scalding water, and forced her to wear a gag to prevent her screaming in pain. Sickening pictures of the burns and blisters were found stored on his camera phone.

In a statement to police after she recovered, the woman now 28, said: “I experienced things nobody should have to go through.”

She said: “This relationship taught me that the world is an evil place. It has left me with physical and emotional scars I will never recover from.”

Another victim, who shared a home with both her and Ali, while he had relationships with both women, described her experience as “a living nightmare from which I could not wake up.”

The judge said Ali had controlled each of his victims by a “reign of terror”, in which he abused them physically, psychologically and sexually.

In each case evil Ali had isolated the women from their friends and families to ensure they became totally dependent on him.

Ali was found guilty of 13 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, four of rape, two of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, two of indecent assault, two of common assault, and two of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

In addition to the four life sentences for the most serious counts, he was given jail terms totalling 79 years and six months, all to run concurrently.