As a child rapist already serving time admitted this week to committing more sex offences, here we share the details of every man convicted as part of Operation Stovewood so far.
Operation Stovewood 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 between 1997 and 2013. It also outlined how police and social workers had failed to step in.
It is a National Crime Agency operation, and is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual abuse in the UK.
Over 200 arrests have been made since the operation was launched.
42-year-old Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar has spent the last five years behind bars, after receiving a 23-year sentence in 2018 when a jury at Sheffield Crown Court found him guilty of a string of sex offences including rape; indecent assault; procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse with another; aiding and abetting rape and sexual assault.
Akhtar is now facing more jail time after pleading guilty to two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault, during a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
The offences took place between 2001 and 2003, and involved a victim who was as young as 13-years-old. Akhtar is set to be sentenced at the same court on December 18. His guilty pleas mark the latest Operation Stovewood conviction, and here we look back at all of the 17 prison terms passed down so far.
Sentences of four years or more are never spent, and in the case of Operation Stovewood, the shortest sentence passed out is four years, while the largest sentence is 25 years.
*If you are concerned about a child and believe they are being exploited, please report it to South Yorkshire Police so they can help.
You can get in touch with them by calling 101, or going online and using the force's chat function or online portal at: https://smartcontact.southyorkshire.police.uk/
Call 999 if they are in immediate danger.
1. 17 men jailed over Operation Stovewood
Top row, left to right: Ashgar Bostan; Sajid Ali; Riaz Makhmood; Zaheer Iqbal; Tony Chapman Middle row, left to right: Darren Hyett; Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar; Asif Ali; Nabeel Kurshid; Iqlak Yousaf; Tanweer Hussain Ali; Bottom row, left to right: Salah Ahmed El-Hakam; Aftab Hussain; Abid Saddiq; Masaued Malik; Sharaz Hussain; Mohammed Ahsan
2. Asghar Bostan: Taxi driver rapist jailed for nine years
53-year-old Asghar Boston was found guilty of raping a teenage girl between 2000 and 2002, following a Sheffield Crown Court trial in February 2018. Bostan, formerly of East Bawtry Road, Rotherham was charged in May 2017 as part of Operation Stovewood - the NCA’s investigation into non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse between 1997 and 2013. The victim – who was aged under 16 at the time of the abuse - came forward to South Yorkshire Police in 2014 to report the abuse and the case was referred to the NCA’s Operation Stovewood team. She told officers she was given drugs and alcohol, and coerced into staying at a flat in Rotherham, where Bostan raped her on two occasions. He was sentenced to nine years in prison following a five-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court.
3. Sajid Ali: Man who groomed and sexually abused 13-year-old girl jailed for seven-and-a-half years
In November 2017, Sajid Ali was convicted of multiple child sex offences as part of the first Operation Stovewood trial which was held at Sheffield Crown Court. Judge David Dixon jailed Ali, then aged 38, for seven-and-a-half years after jurors found him guilty of seven counts of indecent assault. He was was convicted alongside Riaz Makhmood, then aged 39, who, during the same hearing, was sentenced to six years, nine months' custody, while a third defendant Zaheer Iqbal, then aged 40, was also sentenced to seven-and-a-half-years behind bars. Between them, the three defendants were found unanimously guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault. The court was told how all three men groomed a 'vulnerable' girl, aged between 12 and 13-years-old, before sexually abusing her in the Masbrough area of Rotherham for a period of a year during the mid-1990s. Ali, Makhmood and Iqbal would ply the girl with cigarettes and alcohol so she felt she owed them something, and threatened to tell her mother she was a 'slag' if she did not do what they wanted Judge Dixon told them: "Each of you in your own way perpetuated and facilitated the abuse of a vulnerable, young girl," adding: "Like many, she simply wanted to be liked and you preyed on that." He continued: "The memories haunt her."
4. Riaz Makhmood: Child abuser jailed for six years, nine months
In November 2017, Riaz Makhmood was convicted of multiple child sex offences as part of the first Operation Stovewood trial which was held at Sheffield Crown Court. Judge David Dixon jailed Makhmood, then aged 39, for six years, nine months after jurors found him guilty of seven counts of indecent assault. He was was convicted and jailed alongside Sajid Ali, then aged 38, and Zaheer Iqbal, then aged 40, both of whom were sentenced to seven-and-a-half-years behind bars. Between them, the three defendants were found unanimously guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault. The court was told how all three men groomed a 'vulnerable' girl, aged between 12 and 13-years-old, before sexually abusing her in the Masbrough area of Rotherham for a period of a year during the mid-1990s. Ali, Makhmood and Iqbal would ply the girl with cigarettes and alcohol so she felt she owed them something, and threatened to tell her mother she was a 'slag' if she did not do what they wanted Judge Dixon told them: "Each of you in your own way perpetuated and facilitated the abuse of a vulnerable, young girl," adding: "Like many, she simply wanted to be liked and you preyed on that." He continued: "The memories haunt her."