Rochdale care worker tells court underage girls were his ‘friends with benefits’

Jahn Shahid Ghani was the first of eight defendants on trial to give evidence to the jury at Manchester Minshull Street crown court. Photograph: Ian Nellist/Alamy

A care worker accused of grooming and exploiting two underage girls in Rochdale has told a court they were his “friends with benefits” and he thought they were over 16.

Jahn Shahid Ghani, 50, said he was about 32 when he had ecstasy-fuelled sex with the girls when they were only 14 or 15 – including threesomes with one of his adult girlfriends.