Verdict comes as police investigating child sexual abuse in South Yorkshire town say there are more than 11,100 lines of inquiry

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Eight men have been found guilty of sexually exploiting teenage girls in Rotherham.

The men, who include two brothers and four cousins, all raped or indecently assaulted the same girl when she was as young as 13, a jury at Sheffield crown court found on Monday. Some of them had abused two other girls as far back as 1999, the jury ruled.

The main complainant, who is now 27 and a campaigner against child sexual exploitation, said her abusers threatened to “gang-rape” her mother if she did not submit to their sexual abuse, which took place largely in an alley behind a branch of Boots in Rotherham town centre, in a local park and in bushes near a museum.

Her family were so afraid of her alleged abusers that they moved to Spain after their complaints to the police, social services, their MP and the home secretary went unresolved, the court heard.

The jury believed her when she said that Sageer Hussain, 30 – who is of British Pakistani origin, along with all but one of the other men in the dock – first raped her behind Boots when she was 13 and later called her a “white slag” when she tried and failed to stop him. She told police that the first and second time he raped her, between 1 January and 4 April 2003, he told her to scream so that his friends, waiting nearby, would know to come and watch. He was found guilty on Monday of four counts of rape and one of indecent assault.

His older brother, Basharat Hussain, 40, was found guilty of indecently assaulting her. Six further men, including two cousins of the Hussain brothers, were found guilty of abusing her or helping others to do so.

After the majority verdicts were returned in this trial on Monday, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said it was separately investigating more than 11,100 lines of inquiry relating to non-familial child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2003.

So far 38 people have been designated “suspects” with many more under investigation, according to the NCA, which is carrying out the independent investigation at the request of the chief constable of South Yorkshire police.



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NCA staff have been talking to 133 victims and survivors and have so far recorded 163 crimes in relation to their experiences. They have identified 17 distinct investigations under the overall inquiry.

To date, nine people have been arrested as part of the operation, codenamed Stovewood, with all suspects bailed until November and December, and one organised crime group has been mapped, identifying the nature and scale of its offending. Money laundering, other financial crime and drug-related offences have also been identified.



The distinct investigations would be carried out by South Yorkshire police or other appropriate authorities to enable Stovewood to retain its focus on investigating child sexual exploitation and abuse, the NCA said.

The operation is recruiting additional officers to increase the size of the team to 117.

Stovewood’s senior investigating officer, Paul Williamson, said the operation was receiving good cooperation from South Yorkshire police, Rotherham council and health agencies “who have a vital long-term role in supporting victims and witnesses and providing information” to help the investigation.

“I am determined to identify and bring to justice all those who have abused children in Rotherham in the period covered by Operation Stovewood. The scale and complexity of the investigation is extremely large and it will take a number of years to complete.”

He said agencies were working together to identify any suspects who might still be active, and more arrests would be made this year.

The operation began after the publication in August 2014 of the Jay report, which said at least 1,400 children in Rotherham had been sexually exploited over a 16-year period from 1997.

The full verdicts returned by the jury on Monday were as follows:

Sageer Hussain, of Goole, was found guilty of four counts of rape and one of indecent assault. His brother Basharat Hussain was found guilty of indecent assault.

The brothers’ cousin, Mohammed Whied, 32, of Kimberworth was found guilty of aiding and abetting rape.

Ishtiaq Khaliq, 33, of Eastwood was found guilty of rape and three counts of indecent assault.

Waleed Ali, 34, of Rotherham was found guilty of rape and indecent assault.

Another of the Hussains’ cousins, Asif Ali, 30, of Rotherham, was found guilty of rape.

Masoued Malik, 32, of Rotherham, was found guilty of rape, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit indecent assault.

Naeem Rafiq, 33, from Bradgate, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and false imprisonment.

They will be sentenced on 4 November at Sheffield crown court.

The Crown Prosecution Service praised the victims in the case for their bravery in coming forward.

Peter Mann, of CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “In contrast to the courage and strength of the victims, these men’s actions are utterly abhorrent. They waged a campaign of sexual violence and intimidation against young girls in the Rotherham area 13 years ago.

“Their victims were targeted, sexualised, and in some cases subjected to degrading and violent acts. Sageer Hussain in particular took a leading role in befriending the young girls, and in the case of one victim, passed her on to his friends and other associates, assisted in various ways by the other defendants.”

Dr Alan Billings, the police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire, said the convictions showed that authorities had changed the way they handled cases such as this.

He said: “South Yorkshire police is proving that it has learned from past mistakes and is determined to get right what it got so badly wrong before.

“The teams of specially-trained and dedicated officers work tirelessly to pursue and bring to justice those who exploit and abuse young people, which goes towards putting right some of the injustices and institutional failures of the past.”

He added: “This judgment sends a clear message to any others who think they can get away with treating girls and young women in this way, that this will not be tolerated and that the police and other authorities will ensure offenders are caught and brought to justice.”