The leader of a Bolton grooming gang has admitted 19 rape and sex offences against five underage girls.
Ashley Darbyshire, 28, of Bolton Road, Westhoughton, was due to take the stand at Liverpool Crown Court this morning but instead changed his plea and admitted the crimes.
The 28-year-old will be sentenced at a later date along with eight other members of the gang who were convicted of sex offences in February after a three-month trial.
While the other gang members have been remanded in custody, Darbyshire’s medical history of having a stroke as well as his guilty pleas has seen Judge Simon Medland KC remand him on bail with electronic tagging conditions between 6am to 6pm.
Judge Medland said a ‘substantial custodial sentence’ would be ‘inevitable’ for the 28-year-old.
He added: ‘I heard a great deal of evidence in the first trial about your conduct and how it led to other offences in part.’
Darbyshire pleaded guilty to two offences of raping an underage girl – one occurring while he tied her up and raped her – and 10 offences of sexual activity with the same girl while she was aged between 13 and 15 in the Blackrod area.
He also admitted raping another underage girl and inciting her to engage in sexual activity, inciting another girl to engage in sexual activity and two offences of sexual activity with a fourth victim who he also incited to engage in sexual activity.
Ashley Darbyshire (above) admitted 19 rape and sex offences involving five underage girls
Darbyshire was due to take the stand at Liverpool Crown Court (above) this morning but instead changed his plea and admitted the acts
Judge Simon Medland KC remanded Darbyshire on bail with electronic tagging conditions between 6am to 6pm (Pictured: a stock image of an electronic tag)
Darbyshire, who was allowed to sit in the dock while entering his pleas because of his health, additionally pleaded guilty to making Category C indecent images of another girl.
The gang members were arrested in 2023 following Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Pavarotti, the force’s investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations in the area.
The investigations resulted in thirteen men charged with more than 50 child grooming sex offences including raping girls as young as 14.
The men were first brought into court in April 2023 in groups of three or four for brief hearings at Bolton Magistrates’ Court.
