Three twisted brothers responsible for a catalogue of sex offences have become the latest to be sentenced in a historic abuse investigation, now spanning 53 offenders and 620 years of jail time.
Amar, Kamran and Kamar Ilyas were sentenced on June 22, 2026 for a myriad of sex offences committed against five young girls.
In July 2025, 28 months after first being charged, Amar Ilyas is understood to have fled the country, travelling to Pakistan - and possibly beyond - allowing the cowardly sex offender to skip his trial and possibly avoid ever receiving any real punishment for his heinous crimes.
He was convicted of 20 historic sex offences - including 12 counts of rape - after a trial in his absence in September 2025, and concerns have been raised about why he was ever granted bail after being charged - leaving him free to flee the country.
Judge Peter Hampton sentenced Amar Ilyas to 27 years’ custody, with a one-year extended licence period, in his absence during the June 2026 hearing.
In March 2026, two of his brothers, Kamran Ilyas, aged 38, and 39-year-old Kamar Ilyas, both of Atlow Close, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were found guilty of a catalogue of sex offences committed against one of Amar’s victims - Complainant One.
Judge Hampton handed Kamran and Kamar Ilyas prison sentences of three years and 10 years’ imprisonment, respectively.
The three Ilyas brothers were brought to justice as part of the National Crime Agency’s large-scale investigation into child sexual abuse and exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child abuse in UK history.
It was launched in the wake of the Alexis Jay report, which was published in 2014 and described how at least 1,400 children in Rotherham had been subjected to grooming and abuse by gangs of men, predominately men of Pakistani heritage, of between 1997 and 2013.
Offenders went unprosecuted, despite police and child protection agencies having knowledge of the horrific crimes taking place for decades.
In 2014, the NCA was formally asked by the then Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police to lead an independent investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse in Rotherham.
It was set up by the NCA with the goals of supporting victims, pursuing offenders and rebuilding public confidence.
In August 2025, it was announced that the NCA would also lead in an investigation into child sexual abuse allegations made against former South Yorkshire Police officers, after concerns were raised about the force being trusted to investigate its own officers
Of the 53 people sentenced so far, 47 of them have received immediate jail terms, with sentences ranging between two and 25 years.
The combined total of the immediate jail terms passed down is 620 years, four months and two weeks.
This figure accounts for the total length of time an offender could be made to spend in custody, and does not account for concurrent sentences passed down, which do not materially affect an offender’s total sentence.
A total of 51 men have been convicted of sex offences as part of Operation Stovewood, while one man was convicted of drug offences, and a woman was convicted of offences under the Malicious Communications Act, after she broke anonymity laws to name complainants online.
Operation Stovewood has identified more than 1,150 potential victims of abuse, and in excess of 220 people have been arrested or attended a police station voluntarily.
The NCA announced Operation Stovewood would be moving to a new phase from January 1, 2024, after which time South Yorkshire Police would be responsible for any new allegations and investigations.
A number of active Stovewood investigations remain ongoing, some of which are making their way through the courts.
1. Kamran, Kamar and Amar Ilyas: Sentenced in June 2026
A man nicknamed “Killer” and his two younger brothers have been convicted 18 years after they sexually abused four children and a woman in Sheffield. The men were found guilty of a series of sexual offences – including rapes – many of which were committed by eldest brother Amar Ilyas, 41, of Sheffield. Known as “Killer” to the victims, Amar Ilyas bit one victim and used a gun and threats of gang rape to coerce others he abused. He was convicted in September 2025, but this could only be reported, after the trial of his brothers concluded on March 9, 2026. Amar Ilyas was convicted of a total of 20 sex offences, and a firearm offence, in his absence after he fled the country and travelled to Pakistan. The three brothers were all charged in March 2023, before being released on court bail. Kamran Ilyas, 38, and Kamar Ilyas, 39, both of Atlow Close, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were found guilty of a total of five sexual offences against one of the girls that their brother had raped. Kamran and Kamar Ilyas were sentenced to three and 10 years' imprisonment, respectively, on June 22, 2026. Amar Ilyas, who remains on-the-run, was sentenced to 27 years' custody, with a one-year extended licence period, in his absence during the same June 2026 hearing | NCA
2. Riyasth Hussain: Jailed for 20 years in February 2026
A rapist has faced justice 20 years after committing his crimes, following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). In 2019, officers from Operation Stovewood, the NCA’s investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, arrested Riyasth Hussain, 45, after identifying he had twice raped a girl of around 13 years of age in the 2000s. The victim, now in her 30s, confirmed that she had been raped by a man who she knew by the nickname ‘Riaz’ but whose real name was Riyasth. Investigators subsequently identified this man as Hussain. The woman told officers that she first met Hussain between 2004 and 2006, during an incident in which she was being verbally abused by a man on a street in Rotherham. Hussain – then aged around 24 – had pulled up in a car and offered to help the girl. At a later date Hussain again stopped his car beside the girl on a street, and the victim agreed to get into the vehicle. Hussain then drove to an empty industrial estate, where he pulled the girl out of the car and raped her. Afterwards, Hussain drove off, leaving the victim on her own. Hussain raped the girl a second time after arranging to meet her. He again drove her to a desolate location – this time a field – where he raped her inside his car. The woman gave officers a description of the man, who she also recalled had connections to a local taxi firm, and the officers began carrying out enquiries to identify him. Meanwhile, as part of a separate enquiry, Operation Stovewood investigators also spoke to a woman who reported being raped by a man in 2008 when she was in her 20s. She told officers that while staying at a friend’s home one night she was disturbed by the sound of people arriving at the property. A short while afterwards, a group of people entered her room. Soon after, and without warning, a man that the woman did not know raped her. Hussain was found guilty of raping both victims on February 17, 2026, following a week-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court | NCA
3. Kessur Ajaib and Mohammed Makhmood: Jailed for 15 years, six months in December 2025
Two men who raped a vulnerable girl in Rotherham 25 years ago were jailed for a total of 15 and a half years on December 22, 2025. Kessur Ajaib, then aged 44, and Mohammed Makhmood, then aged 43, both of Rotherham, were aged between 18 and 20 at the time of offending. Ajaib and Makhmood raped the victim, aged around 14, over a period of more than two years, starting in 1999. The girl was attacked by Ajaib while out in Rotherham. Ajaib made conversation with the girl and gave her alcohol, before luring her to an alleyway in a residential area where he raped her. Ajaib was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison for the rape and a further three years, to run concurrently, for indecently assaulting the same girl. Makhmood carried out his attack when he found the girl waiting at a bus stop one evening. He invited her to smoke a cigarette with him, then led her to a nearby graveyard where he raped her. Makhmood received a seven-year prison sentence for the offence. Both men must sign the sex offenders register for life. Specially trained officers from Operation Stovewood – the NCA’s investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham, which commenced in 2014 – contacted the victim after identifying she may have been sexually abused as a child. The woman told officers about what the men had done to her as a girl, and investigators subsequently identified corroborating evidence. Officers arrested Ajaib and Makhmood and then charged them in February 2024. On 23 July 2025, both were found guilty of raping the girl, following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court in which a co-defendant was also convicted of raping a second girl. | NCA
4. Sageer Hussain: Jailed for extra three years in November 2025
A man who raped a girl in Rotherham around 25 years ago was jailed on November 11, 2025 at Sheffield Crown Court. Sageer Hussain, then 40, who is already serving a 19-year-jail sentence for raping a girl, was sentenced to a further three years in prison for raping a second girl, following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). Hussain and the girl were both aged about 14 at the time. The girl used to see Hussain around Rotherham town centre. On an occasion between 2000 and 2002, Hussain led the girl down an alleyway, where he told her he would not let her back out unless she had sex with him. She refused but he raped her. Officers from Operation Stovewood - the NCA’s investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham, which commenced in 2014 – contacted the victim after identifying she may have been sexually abused as a child. The woman told officers what Hussain had done to her, and the officers conducted follow up in enquiries in which they identified supporting evidence. Operation Stovewood investigators subsequently arrested Hussain, then charged him in February 2024. Hussain was already in prison at the time, serving a 19-year sentence for rape and other sexual offences identified in a separate South Yorkshire Police investigation. Hussain was found guilty on 23 July 2025, following a trial in which two co-defendants were also convicted of raping a different girl. The sentence Hussain received in November 2025 will run consecutive to his current sentence. | NCA