Rehan Baig: ‘Depraved’ man who had sex with pet chickens has jail term reduced

British Courts Under Pressure As Case Backlog Tops 50,000
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Robert Dex @RobDexES29 January 2021
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A “depraved” man who had sex with his pet chickens while his wife filmed him has had his jail term reduced on appeal.

Footage of Rehan Baig having sex with the birds – which died as a result – was found on computer equipment seized from his home in Shepherd Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire, along with indecent images of children.

Investigators found the bestiality videos saved under the file name “Family Vids".

Baig, 37, was jailed for three years at Bradford Crown Court in October last year after admitting a string of offences including having intercourse with an animal, possessing extreme pornographic images and making indecent photographs of children.

His sentence was cut to two years and four months at the Court of Appeal in London on Friday after two senior judges concluded the original term was too long.

His lawyers argued that his jail term should be suspended so he could be freed immediately from prison.

But Sir Roderick Evans, who heard Baig’s appeal with another judge, said: “We are satisfied that a significant and immediate term of custody was necessary.”

The court heard Baig’s crimes were discovered when National Crime Agency officers executed a search warrant at the family home in July 2019, after receiving intelligence he had indecent images of children.

Computer equipment was seized from the house and 49 indecent images of children were found – including 11 in the most serious category, some of which featured children as young as six.

Officers also found a “significant” quantity of extreme pornographic images, including a number of “first-generation, homemade movies” featuring Baig, and occasionally his wife, engaging in sexual activity with animals and saved under the file name “Family Vids”.

Sentencing the couple in October, Judge Richard Mansell QC said the acts “would make any right-thinking member of society sick to their stomach”.

The judge said: “The pain and suffering you inflicted on these animals must have been horrific.”

Baig admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of possession of extreme pornography, three counts of sexual intercourse with an animal and two counts of possession of controlled drugs.

He was banned from keeping animals and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

His wife, Haleema Baig, 38, was handed a six-month suspended sentence after she admitted aiding and abetting sexual intercourse with an animal, which she said was against a background of coercive and controlling behaviour by her husband.

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