The leader of a gang who sexually exploited children in Rotherham has been sentenced again after a new victim came forward.
Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 42, was charged as part of Operation Stovewood, a series of investigations carried out after a huge scale of child sexual exploitation was identified in the South Yorkshire town.
Warning: This story contains descriptions that some readers may find distressing.
He was first arrested for 23 years in 2018 for sexual crimes committed against three vulnerable victims between 1998 and 2005.
On Friday, Akhtar was convicted again of sexually abusing a victim between 2001 and 2003. The victim was aged between 13 and 14 at the time.
In October, he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault – one each relating to multiple incidents over a two-year period.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, concurrent with the existing sentence.
‘It makes her feel bad’
Sheffield Crown Court heard the victim – who was a “very vulnerable girl living in difficult circumstances” at the time of the crimes – came forward after Akhtar’s 2018 conviction was reported in the news.
Judge Sarah Wright said Akhtar had targeted the child in Rotherham. The court heard he called her to her car and gave her drugs and alcohol.
The girl began to disappear and stay away from home.
Judge Wright told the court the girl engaged in sexual activity with him four or five times a week for about a year in his car and in an apparently empty house in Rotherham.
She said that on one occasion, Akhtar and another man intimidated the girl and another “clearly distressed and reluctant” victim into sexual activity.
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The court also heard the victim told police in her interview that “when she walks down the street and sees someone who looks vaguely like the defendant, she feels bad”.
Michael Collins, mitigating, said Akhtar committed the crimes before he was married and had a child. He added that Akhtar had mental health issues that “made incarceration more difficult.”
During sentencing, Judge Wright said: “I commend the victim’s bravery in coming forward after all this time.
“Your childhood and adolescence can never be recovered, the effect of [Akhtar’s] offending her cannot be overestimated.”
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