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.
5. Obaidullah Omari: Jailed for 19 years in September 2025
A man who groomed and raped two young girls in Rotherham in the early 2000s was jailed for 19 years during a hearing held on September 4, 2025. A trial at Sheffield Crown Court heard how Obaidullah Omari, 46, from Sheffield, targeted the two, who were aged between 13 and 14 at the time of their abuse. The offences, which occurred between 2003 and 2004, were investigated by officers from the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, which is looking into child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Omari, in his 20s at the time, gave the girls alcohol and drugs before abusing them. Omari raped the first girl multiple times at two different locations – his house in Eastwood and in his car – and raped the second girl on one occasion. Both victims came forward to Operation Stovewood more than 20 years after the abuse took place, providing their accounts to officers who then went on to arrest Omari in 2019. Following a two-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, Omari was found guilty of three counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. | NCA
6. Paul Richardson: Jailed for 15 years in August 2025
A man who groomed and then repeatedly raped a schoolgirl 20 years ago has been jailed for 15 years for five sexual offences. Paul Richardson, 63, of Rotherham abused the 15-year-old at hotels in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire after grooming her. He was jailed for 15 years during a hearing held on August 21, 2025. When the girl was 14, Richardson began giving her love letters, presents and alcohol. Sometimes he took her out on day trips. In 2005, when Richardson was 42 and the girl was 15, he took her to a cinema, then on to a hotel near Worksop, Nottinghamshire. At the hotel, Richardson gave the girl wine to drink. He then began kissing her. In interviews with National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators, the victim, now in her 30s, said she repeatedly told Richardson she didn’t want him to kiss her, but Richardson continued and then raped her. In the months that followed, Richardson raped the girl a further three times. He took her to a hotel in Rotherham where he attempted to rape the girl, and then later did rape her. On another occasion – across a two-day period – he raped the girl twice at a house in Nottinghamshire. The victim related how Richardson picked her up in his car – sometimes from school - and took her to places where she was then alone with him. Whenever the victim told Richardson she did not want to have sex, he overpowered or manipulated her. A trial at Sheffield Crown Court in July 2025 heard how Richardson knew the girl had a chaotic home life and set about making her feel dependent upon him for stability, so that she would not report the abuse. He threatened that if she told anyone about them she would lose him and have no one. | NCA
7. Amer Khan: Jailed for six years, six months in July 2025
A man who raped a woman more than 20 years ago has been jailed for six and a half years. The woman was in her early 20s when she met Amer Khan of Rotherham in 2002. After they had known each other for around a year, Khan – also in his early 20s at the time – became verbally and physically abusive, the woman told NCA officers. She related how Khan would sometimes pinch, slap and punch her. Khan’s violence escalated after he pressured the woman to have sex with him during a picnic one day. The woman refused and, fearing what Khan would do, she tried to run away, however Khan caught then raped her. The victim recounted to officers her distress during and after the incident. She recalled crying at the time and Khan blaming her for what he had done. Officers from Operation Stovewood - the NCA’s enquiry into historic allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham – began an investigation in 2022 after they identified the woman was a victim of rape in the course of separate enquiries. They charged Khan in February 2024. Khan was found guilty of one count of rape at Sheffield Crown Court on July 10, 2025, after which the judge immediately sentenced him. Once released from prison, Khan, aged 42 at the time of his conviction, must sign the sex offenders’ register | NCA
8. Jacek Brzozowski: Sentenced to 21 months suspended for two years in May 2025
A man who sexually abused a vulnerable child at a party 13 years ago has been sentenced, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. Jacek Brzozowski, then aged 35, of Rotherham, had sex with the 15-year-old girl during one of a number of parties held at his home at which she and her friend were raped by other men. Brzozowski was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Sheffield Crown Court on May 21, 2025. He has also been placed on the Sexual Offenders Register for 10 years. Romauld Stefan Houphouet, 37, an Ivoirian national of Sheffield, and Absolom Sigiyo, 42, a Zimbabwean national of Rotherham were previously sentenced to more than 38 years in total for rape and other offences against the girls, at Sheffield Crown Court on March 3. The victims told investigators they were taken to numerous parties in Rotherham where they were given alcohol and abused by the men, some of whom openly referred to them as “fresh meat”. At one of the parties Brzozowski, then aged 22, took one of the girls up to a bedroom, where he had sex with her. Houphouet, who had raped the girl previously, found them together and became angry. He told Brzozowski to leave, and then raped the girl again in an act of revenge. Specially trained officers from Operation Stovewood – the NCA’s investigation into historic allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham – contacted the women, who are both now in their 20s, after identifying they were potentially victims. The women subsequently told officers about the abuse. | NCA