A PROMINENT East Lancashire community leader has been charged with six counts of sexual assault, it has emerged.
Junaid Qureshi MBE, 60, of Blackburn, was arrested at Manchester Airport in October, and now it has been revealed police have charged him with the six alleged offences against a 25-year-old woman.
The former non-executive director of NHS Blackburn with Darwen has been bailed to appear at Bolton Magistrates’ Court on April 20.
He stepped down as chief executive officer of the Ethnic Minority Development Association, a Blackburn-based organisation linking to 78 different community groups, after being charged.
At the time of his arrest, he was also a board member of housing association Prospect Homes, which runs Twin Valley Homes and Housing Pendle, a governor at Blackburn College and a board member of the University of Central Lancashire.
He was awarded the MBE in 1999 for work in community relations.
Mr Qureshi was arrested as he arrived back from Pakistan at Manchester Airport on October 30 2008, accused of a series of sex assaults over months since May 2008.
A statement from EMDA said Mr Qureshi had been suspended on full pay.
It read: “Members of the executive committee have recently become aware of certain allegations of impropriety.
"We take such matters very seriously.
"However, we also note that all people are innocent until proven guilty."
As CEO of EMDA, Mr Qureshi is consulted by Blackburn Council’s Local Strategic Partnership, but has no other roles with the council Both Blackburn College and Prospect Homes said they would be reviewing Mr Qureshi’s position.
College Principal Ian Clinton said: “Mr Qureshi is a college governor and has been for many years.
"We don’t have any governors’ meetings scheduled for the next two or three weeks, but I will be meeting the chairman of the board on Monday.
“Of course, we have to assume he is innocent until proven guilty, but the normal process for staff, governors and students in this kind of situation is that suspension would be considered, on the basis of allowing the individual to deal with their personal matters.”
Phil Richards, group chief executive of Prospect Homes, said: “I will need to speak to the chairman and decide what action, if any, will be taken, in line with the members’ code of conduct.
"He has been on our board since our inception two years ago, and was a member of the shadow board before that.”
Last month, Mr Qureshi stepped down as a non-executive director of NHS Blackburn with Darwen, the borough’s primary care trust, half-way through his four-year term on its board, citing personal reasons.
He was also a member of the board on the old East Lancashire Health Authority, which covered the entire of the region, before it was disbanded in 2000 to make way for new health structures.
Mr Qureshi sat as a non-executive director at the Lancashire and Cumbria Strategic Health Authority, but is not connected with NHS North West, which replaced it in 2002.
Thursday 2 April 2009
Saturday 7 March 2009
BNP proved to best represent you
FOUR councillors have been condemned after a league table of meeting attendance records was published.
New figures show the majority of members of Burnley Council have turned out for 80 per cent of meetings or more.
But four councillors - two Liberal Democrat and two Labour members - have attended 40 per cent or less of their official duties.
Coun Imtiaz Hussain, of Bank Hall ward, has the worst attendance record, having attended only three out of 10 committees from May 2008 to the end of January 2009.
And Daneshouse and Stoneyholme councillor Zahir Ahmed and Coun Bernard Hill, who represents Rosegrove with Lowerhouse, have a 33 per cent turnout rate.
Coun Allen Harris, a Lib-Dem in Brunshaw, who has a 40 per cent attendance rate, blamed his absences on illness and work commitments.
He said: “I have been attending police meetings when no one else has, answering telephone calls and dealing with people’s queries.
“The reason that I became a councillor in the first place was to help people but I have not been in a position to turn down work.”
Coun Hill was unavailable for comment. However, Coun Gordon Birtwistle, leader of the council and ruling Liberal Democrat group, said: “Bernard works very unsociable hours in his job and it makes it very difficult for him to attend meetings.
“He works a lot of nights but he works very hard in his ward during the day and he is one of the hardest-working councillors we have got.”
Last April, Coun Ahmed faced banishment from the authority after failing to attend a council meeting in six months.
He said he had been caring for his sick father and was allowed to remain as a ward member for Daneshouse with Stoneyholme after attending a full council meeting. Since then, he has attended two out of six council meetings.
BNP group leader Sharon Wilkinson, who has a 100 per cent attendance record, said: “Our councillors attend meetings, which is what they were elected to do.
“It is okay for the Liberal Democrats and Labour to spout off about our attendance but here is the evidence.”
Coun Peter Doyle, Conservative group leader, added: “People should attend as many meetings as they possibly can when they are elected to the council.”
Couns Ahmed and Hussain were unavailable for comment.
New figures show the majority of members of Burnley Council have turned out for 80 per cent of meetings or more.
But four councillors - two Liberal Democrat and two Labour members - have attended 40 per cent or less of their official duties.
Coun Imtiaz Hussain, of Bank Hall ward, has the worst attendance record, having attended only three out of 10 committees from May 2008 to the end of January 2009.
And Daneshouse and Stoneyholme councillor Zahir Ahmed and Coun Bernard Hill, who represents Rosegrove with Lowerhouse, have a 33 per cent turnout rate.
Coun Allen Harris, a Lib-Dem in Brunshaw, who has a 40 per cent attendance rate, blamed his absences on illness and work commitments.
He said: “I have been attending police meetings when no one else has, answering telephone calls and dealing with people’s queries.
“The reason that I became a councillor in the first place was to help people but I have not been in a position to turn down work.”
Coun Hill was unavailable for comment. However, Coun Gordon Birtwistle, leader of the council and ruling Liberal Democrat group, said: “Bernard works very unsociable hours in his job and it makes it very difficult for him to attend meetings.
“He works a lot of nights but he works very hard in his ward during the day and he is one of the hardest-working councillors we have got.”
Last April, Coun Ahmed faced banishment from the authority after failing to attend a council meeting in six months.
He said he had been caring for his sick father and was allowed to remain as a ward member for Daneshouse with Stoneyholme after attending a full council meeting. Since then, he has attended two out of six council meetings.
BNP group leader Sharon Wilkinson, who has a 100 per cent attendance record, said: “Our councillors attend meetings, which is what they were elected to do.
“It is okay for the Liberal Democrats and Labour to spout off about our attendance but here is the evidence.”
Coun Peter Doyle, Conservative group leader, added: “People should attend as many meetings as they possibly can when they are elected to the council.”
Couns Ahmed and Hussain were unavailable for comment.
Friday 9 January 2009
Girl attacked with hedge trimmer
These types of vicious attacks on women are nowadays all too common occurrence in Pendle, however, what stands out in this particular case is given the Police’s usual appeasement when it comes to the bearers of enrichment how the Police bothered to get it before the courts in the first place never mind a conviction, however the most shocking aspect about this case is the sentence handed out to Rizwan Asghar. This slimeball was already on the sex offender’s list, which he appears to have breached with impunity and has a string of previous convictions to his CV. “Nearly two years” that was the pathetic sentence handed out to someone that could easily have killed hadn’t it not been for the intervention of a passer-by. A BNP government would make this dirt bag serve ten years hard labour.
An attacker that subjected a 17-year-old girl in a sustained a terror attack with an electric hedge trimmer is behind bars for nearly two years.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Rizwan Asghar hit the victim with the machine after a row, turned it on and threatened to cut her leg off. He had dragged her along the ground by her ponytail and punched and kicked her after driving with her and others to a remote spot outside Burnley.A walker who saw what happened bravely ran towards the defendant, shouting at him to stop, but he didn't and carried on the savage beating and shook his fist at her. The onlooker feared the victim would be killed and later told police the assault was "brutal, cold blooded and determined."
Asghar, a sex offender who had flouted the register, was responsible for a "catalogue of offences" committed over 18 months and had failed to comply with court orders, the hearing was told.The defendant (25), of Halifax Road, Brierfield, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, failing to comply with the Sex Offenders' Register, breaching a suspended sentence imposed for attacking a hospital security guard and driving with excess alcohol, driving without due care and attention, driving without a licence and with no insurance and obstructing a police officer. He was sent to jail for 94 weeks and banned from driving for three years.
Sentencing, Judge Heather Lloyd slammed the defendant as an "arrogant and violent bully" and said he had thought nobody would have the courage to make a complaint or give a statement about the assault.
She added the defendant had shown no remorse or victim empathy and continued: "This was a vicious attack upon a young female, Whatever the argument was about it did not justify this behaviour towards her." He picked up a hedge trimmer from the vehicle, got out, swung it around, put it in the boot and got back in the vehicle.
The argument continued and Asghar threatened to cut the girl's leg off. He then grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the car, cutting her leg.As the victim lay on the floor, the defendant got the hedge trimmer, turned it on and put it against her leg, gashing it. She managed to get back in the vehicle, her friend locked the door, but the defendant unlocked it and swung the trimmer at her.
Mr Parker said the girl got out for her safety and Asghar then threw her to the ground, kicked her in the head and dragged her across the floor.
A man and a lady who did not know the party intervened and dragged the defendant off her. Other members of the public joined in to help her. The prosecutor said the victim suffered a cut wrist, swelling and bruising.Gemma Holden, the woman who went to the teenager's aid, told police she thought the defendant was going to kill her. She said he was repeatedly punching and kicking her as she lay defenceless on the ground and the girl seemed "totally shell-shocked" and quite limp. Aaghar had been tossing her around like a rag doll.Mr Parker said the witness was shocked and appalled by what she had seen and told officers the attack was brutal.Asghar was arrested and interviewed and none of the others in the car would make a statement. He did not make admissions. Some time later the witness and the victim picked him out on an identity parade.
An attacker that subjected a 17-year-old girl in a sustained a terror attack with an electric hedge trimmer is behind bars for nearly two years.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Rizwan Asghar hit the victim with the machine after a row, turned it on and threatened to cut her leg off. He had dragged her along the ground by her ponytail and punched and kicked her after driving with her and others to a remote spot outside Burnley.A walker who saw what happened bravely ran towards the defendant, shouting at him to stop, but he didn't and carried on the savage beating and shook his fist at her. The onlooker feared the victim would be killed and later told police the assault was "brutal, cold blooded and determined."
Asghar, a sex offender who had flouted the register, was responsible for a "catalogue of offences" committed over 18 months and had failed to comply with court orders, the hearing was told.The defendant (25), of Halifax Road, Brierfield, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, failing to comply with the Sex Offenders' Register, breaching a suspended sentence imposed for attacking a hospital security guard and driving with excess alcohol, driving without due care and attention, driving without a licence and with no insurance and obstructing a police officer. He was sent to jail for 94 weeks and banned from driving for three years.
Sentencing, Judge Heather Lloyd slammed the defendant as an "arrogant and violent bully" and said he had thought nobody would have the courage to make a complaint or give a statement about the assault.
She added the defendant had shown no remorse or victim empathy and continued: "This was a vicious attack upon a young female, Whatever the argument was about it did not justify this behaviour towards her." He picked up a hedge trimmer from the vehicle, got out, swung it around, put it in the boot and got back in the vehicle.
The argument continued and Asghar threatened to cut the girl's leg off. He then grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the car, cutting her leg.As the victim lay on the floor, the defendant got the hedge trimmer, turned it on and put it against her leg, gashing it. She managed to get back in the vehicle, her friend locked the door, but the defendant unlocked it and swung the trimmer at her.
Mr Parker said the girl got out for her safety and Asghar then threw her to the ground, kicked her in the head and dragged her across the floor.
A man and a lady who did not know the party intervened and dragged the defendant off her. Other members of the public joined in to help her. The prosecutor said the victim suffered a cut wrist, swelling and bruising.Gemma Holden, the woman who went to the teenager's aid, told police she thought the defendant was going to kill her. She said he was repeatedly punching and kicking her as she lay defenceless on the ground and the girl seemed "totally shell-shocked" and quite limp. Aaghar had been tossing her around like a rag doll.Mr Parker said the witness was shocked and appalled by what she had seen and told officers the attack was brutal.Asghar was arrested and interviewed and none of the others in the car would make a statement. He did not make admissions. Some time later the witness and the victim picked him out on an identity parade.
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