Manzoor Akhtar, 31, has become the latest member of a Huddersfield grooming gang to be sentenced as part of a major investigation into child sexual exploitation (Picture: SWNS)

The 35th member of a notorious Huddersfield grooming gang has been jailed for repeatedly raping an underage girl.

Manzoor Akhtar, 31, has been sentenced to more than four years in jail for raping a young girl when she was just 13. The assaults took place during 2005 and 2006 in the West Yorkshire town, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Another gang member, Shaqeel Hussain, has had 12 months added to his prison sentence after he admitted to committing an indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl between 2004 and 2005. He can only be named now as reporting restrictions were lifted after he pleaded guilty.

Hussain, 36, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, is already serving an eight-year prison sentence for raping a 14-year-old girl after going to trial in February.


Hussain has had 12 months added an eight-year prison sentence handed out at a previous trial for raping a 14-year-old girl (Picture: SWNS)

The latest convictions mean a total of 35 men have now been jailed as part of Operation Tendersea, a multi-agency investigation into historic child sexual exploitation in Huddersfield.



Multiple men in the town raped girls – many of whom were underage – between 1995 and 2011. The combined sentences so far come to more than 380 years between the men.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard McNamara of the Kirklees District CID, said: ‘Akhtar richly deserves the prison sentence he has been given after being found guilty and convicted for the dreadful sexual abuse of this young victim.

‘He thought nothing of this girl’s obvious very young age as he raped her and treated her in a fashion which can only be described as callous in the extreme.’

DCI McNamara said he was also pleased that Hussain could now be named.

He added: ‘Hussain was convicted for rape in an Operation Tendersea trial in February 2020 but at the time we were not able to release his identity.

Akhtar was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court last week (Picture: PA)

‘He has now been sentenced after pleading guilty to an indecent assault on a 16-year-old victim, and can be named as reporting restrictions have been lifted.

‘He will face a total of nine years in prison in total for both of these depraved offences in which he showed no regard whatsoever for his victims.

‘A repeated feature of these cases has been the stunning bravery of the now young women who have come forward to tell us about the abuse they suffered and then doing everything they can to support the police and CPS in taking action against those who abused them.

‘The courage of victims is helping us take dangerous predators such as Manzoor Akhtar and Shaqeel Hussain off our streets, show them for what they are, and put them behind bars where they belong.’

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