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.
17. Adam Ali: Jailed for 13 years in July 2024
Adam Ali, 43, was investigated and convicted as part of the National Crime Agency's Operation Stovewood, looking at allegations of child sexual abuse in the South Yorkshire town. Ali, known as Razwan Razaq at the time of his offending, carried out his attacks between 2002 and 2004, using his car to drive vulnerable young girls to various locations where he assaulted them. He was convicted of three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving girls aged as young as 12 and 13 following a trial in May this year. Ali was released from prison in April 2023 after serving an 11 year jail term for separate sexual offences investigated by South Yorkshire Police. He was arrested by the NCA just a month after his release after officers were notified that he intended to travel to Pakistan. On July 9, 2024 a judge at Sheffield Crown Court sentenced him to a further 13 years in prison. He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for 15 years. | Submit
18. Ishtiaq Khaliq: Jailed for two years in December 2023, bringing total sentence to one of 19 years
Ishtiaq Khaliq, aged 40 at the time of his most recent sentence and formerly of Carlisle Street in Rotherham, stole his teenage victim’s mobile phone and threatened not to return it unless she performed a sex act on him in the stairwell of a block of flats in Rotherham. The case was investigated as part of Operation Stovewood, the NCA’s inquiry into allegations of non-familial child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Khaliq pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and theft of a mobile phone at a hearing in November. Khaliq was sentenced to an additional two years for the offences arising out of the NCA investigation He had previously been jailed for 17 years in 2016 for rape and three counts of sexual assault alongside seven other men, following an investigation by South Yorkshire Police. His latest sentence, handed down by a judge at Sheffield Crown Court today (14 December), will run consecutive to his previous one. | NCA
19. Mohammed Ahsan: Jailed for 18 years in September 2019
Mohammed Ahsan was jailed for 18 years for indecently assaulting three young girls in Rotherham over 20 years ago, during a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held in September 2019. The 39-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to three offences at Sheffield Crown Court, relating to attacks which took place between 1999 and 2001. NCA senior investigating officer Philip Marshall said at the time: “Ahsan’s victims were chosen because of their vulnerability and I hope his conviction, like those that came before it, have demonstrated our commitment to getting justice for those victims as they rebuild their lives.” | Submit
20. Sharaz Hussain: Jailed for 19 years in August 2019
In August 2019, Sharaz Hussain received a four-year sentence for one count of indecent assault. Sharaz Hussain, aged 39, formerly of Fitzwilliam Road, Eastwood was found guilty alongside other defendants including Abid Saddiq, Masaued Malik and Sharaz Hussain. They were given alcohol and drugs, belittled and passed around to other men for their gratification, and were vulnerable because of their need to be loved. All seven suffer the emotional effects of the abuse to this day. All the men lived in Rotherham and the surrounding areas and associated with one another at the time the abuse took place. A feature of their sexual offending was they would often act as a group, happy to share girls around amongst each other. They knew the girls were underage and lacking in confidence and would regularly either park outside the girl’s schools waiting to engage them in conversation, or hang around at the local park, bus station or in Rotherham waiting for young girls to approach. If the girls didn’t comply with the men’s sexual demands, they turned violent and the power exerted over the girls became more apparent. They were given drugs and alcohol and often raped by multiple offenders and they felt obliged to comply. | Submit