Seven members of a Rotherham grooming gang have been jailed for a collective 106 years in prison for the systematic sexual abuse of two underage girls in the northern English town.
Mohammed Amar, 42, Mohammed Siyab, 44, Yasser Ajaibe, 39, Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, 49, Abid Saddiq, 43, Tahir Yassin, 38, and Ramin Bari, 37, have been jailed following an investigation as a part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed this week.
The operation, which has so far jailed 36 people, was established after the Jay Report found that at least 1,400 mostly white English girls were sexually abused and raped by predominantly-Pakistani heritage grooming gangs operating in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
The CPS said that the two victims in the latest case were 11 and 15 years old when they were groomed by the seven men, who systemically plied the young girls with drugs and alcohol before raping and assaulting them.
The defendants were sentenced to a combined 106 years in prison after bing found guilty by the Sheffield Crown Court for a string of child sexual abuse crimes between April 2003 and April 2008.
Zoe Becker, for the CPS, said: “These seven men deliberately preyed on two young girls they knew were vulnerable and, using drugs and alcohol, exploited them for their own sexual gratification.
“The cruelty and abuse the victims suffered at the hands of these defendants was horrific and has continued to have a lasting impact on their lives today.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the victims for coming forward and giving evidence. This has been a complex and challenging case, and it is because of their courage and fortitude that we have been able to bring these offenders to justice.
“I hope these convictions send a clear message that the CPS, working closely alongside law enforcement, will relentlessly pursue justice and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, whenever that abuse took place.
“All children have the right to feel safe and protected. I encourage anyone who has been in a similar position to come forward to report these incidents to the police. It is never too late to seek justice – you are not alone and there is help available.”
However, some have argued that convictions of the men who groomed children in Rotherham and elsewhere is not enough, given reports which found that local authorities, including police overlooked the abuse of young white girls by mostly Pakistani Muslim men for fear of being accused of racism.
Responding to the jailing of the latest groomers, former Prime Minister Liz Truss said: “Those in authority who turned a blind eye to these appalling crimes need to be held to account.”
Indeed, a 2020 report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found so-called “Asian” grooming gang abuse against young girls in Rotherham was overlooked for years by the police out of politically correct concerns and fear of sparking “racial tensions” in the town which has been transformed by decades of mass migration.
In one example, the report alleged that a Rotherham police chief told the father of a missing girl that the town would “erupt” if the public was informed that Muslim grooming gangs were sexually abusing young white girls.
A 2017 report from the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, which collected testimonies from groomers during their trials, said that the child rapists specifically targeted young white girls, who were seen as “easy targets” compared to girls from their own communities, whom the mostly Pakistani men felt should be “protected”.