WIREDGOV

A man from Rotherham who is already serving a 23-year jail term for raping and indecently assaulting teenage girls has been sentenced after admitting further offences

Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 42, formerly of Godstone Road, was convicted in 2018 following an investigation by the National Crime Agency under Operation Stovewood.

He was found guilty of being a ringleader of a group who befriended girls before plying them with drugs and alcohol and then abusing them. A judge said Akhtar had purposefully “targeted and groomed” his victims.

Following his sentencing a further victim came forward, stating that she had also been raped and indecently assaulted by Akhtar between 2001 and 2003, starting when she was 13-years-old.

The NCA investigated and sought further charges against him. Akhtar eventually admitted two further counts of rape and two of indecent assault at a court hearing in October.

Today, Friday 24 May, a judge at Sheffield Crown Court gave him an additional 12 year sentence for the rape offences, and eight years for the indecent assaults, which will run concurrently to his initial jail term but will likely mean he remains in prison for longer before being considered for parole.

NCA Operations Manager Stuart Cobb said:

“The victim in this case showed immense bravery to come forward and tell her story after what was a harrowing ordeal at the hands of cruel and vindictive man.

“Akhtar treated his victims like his own possessions, supplying them with drugs and alcohol while they were abused.”

Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual abuse in the UK. NCA officers are investigating allegations of abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

So far more than 200 people have been arrested and 28 convictions secured, with those convicted handed jail sentences totalling more than 250 years.