Criminal defence lawyer exploited trust and paid victims for explicit images before escalating to physical abuse
A criminal defence solicitor has been jailed for nine years and nine months after systematically grooming and sexually abusing two 13-year-old girls.
Suleman Baig, 40, from Grimsby, pleaded guilty to 15 charges relating to child sexual abuse at Leeds Crown Court. The offences included sexual assault, inciting children to engage in sexual activity, and making indecent images of children.
The court heard that Baig, who was a practising solicitor at the time of his offending, exploited a position of trust to abuse the girls on around 20 separate occasions. He had known them through a pre-existing relationship with one victim’s family.
Baig initially
used Snapchat to request nude photographs from the girls, offering cash payments that escalated to as much as £100 for a single image. In total, he paid the two victims between £500 and £600 for explicit photographs. He concealed money around the family home, including cash stuffed in toilet rolls and hidden in the bathroom.
The abuse progressed from online exploitation to in-person sexual assaults. During one incident, the court heard, Baig told a victim to “think about vegetables” to distract herself while he sexually abused her.
Police later discovered over 700 indecent and prohibited images of children stored in private apps on Baig’s devices, including “pseudo images” he had created using editing software.
Following his arrest on 20 November 2021 by Humberside Police, Baig attempted to pervert the course of justice by contacting victims and witnesses. He breached his bail conditions by visiting one girl’s home and attempting to persuade her to pressure her friend to retract her statement.
He was arrested a second time on 2 December 2021 on suspicion of witness intimidation. Despite initially denying the contact, Baig subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of intending to pervert the course of justice.
After his conviction, Baig was granted bail on condition he surrender his passport within 24 hours. However, he presented police with an expired passport from nearly two decades earlier, retaining his current travel documents. Prosecutors successfully opposed his bail and he was remanded in custody.
Graham Guest, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire & Humberside, said: “Suleman Baig was a practising solicitor who knew exactly how serious his crimes were, yet still continued to systematically groom and abuse two young girls.”
He added: “His actions were calculated, predatory, and deeply disturbing.” Once Baig’s offences “caught up with him, he made flagrant attempts to pressure his young victims to withdraw their evidence,” Guest said.
The prosecutor praised the courage of both victims in supporting the prosecution. “Their testimony and the strength of the CPS’ case meant he had no option but to admit his guilt – meaning no trial was needed,” he stated.
Philip Shrimpton, from Humberside Police’s Protecting Vulnerable People unit, commended the bravery of the girls for reporting the abuse. He described Baig as “a manipulative sexual predator who groomed two girls for his own sexual gratification.”
Shrimpton noted that Baig “continued to deny all these allegations up until day two of the trial, making the girls and their families go through all the court proceedings.”
He urged anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse to report it via the non-emergency number 101, or to call 999 in an emergency.
