Snaresbrook Crown Court

A TEACHER who instructed children on the Koran has been jailed for three years and three months after he was convicted of sexual assault against girls as young as four.

Ashraf Miah, 38, of Joseph Street, Mile End, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday following his conviction by a jury on 13 charges of sexual assault between 2005 and 2009.

The offences happened when Miah was entrusted to teach young girls to read from the Koran either at his home theirs.

The crimes came to notice when Miah was arrested in November 2009 for offences against two of the girls. During the investigation, dealt with by detectives from the Child Abuse Investigation Team, other children that had been taught by Miah were contacted and more offences came to notice, leading to his further arrest in January 2010.

He was convicted on all 13 counts.

He was sentenced to three years and three months imprisonment, put on the sex offenders register for life and is not allowed to work with children.

The officer leading the investigation, Det Sgt Martin Bird from the Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “The tragedy of this case is that a highly respected member of the community took advantage of their position of trust.

“It goes to show that even if someone thinks they have got away with it at the time, young people are brave enough to come forward and testify at court.”