Child sex abuse Yorkshire: More than 500 years of jail time given to sex offenders as part of Operation Tendersea
500 years sounds a lot, but spread over 42 “truly evil” men, several trials and a 6 year period since arrest and first appearance at the magistrates court in 2017 it isn’t quite so dramatic. But convicted they are, and inside is better than outside.
From The Yorkshire Post and ITVX
Operation Tendersea has been a long running West Yorkshire Police investigation focussed on the sexual exploitation and abuse of young girls in the Huddersfield area between 1995 and 2013. This trial, which concluded at Leeds Crown Court on February 9, saw five men convicted for the second time after previously being jailed in earlier Operation Tendersea trials.
Mohammed Kammer, 38, Nahman Mohammed, 3), Wiqas Mahmud, 42, and Mohammed Imran Ibrar, 38, from Huddersfield, and Abdul Rehman, 36, from Sheffield, had pleaded not guilty and stood trial in January and February 2023.
The men’s trial had been delayed from 2020.
The men were found guilty of carrying out or facilitating the sexual abuse of a young girl in the Huddersfield area between 2005 and 2010. The abuse started when the victim was just 14 years old.
The five were jailed for a combined 28 years at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday, April 13.
Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire (and former actress from Coronation Street; actually I can think of worse qualifications – straight from university to SPAD springs to mind), said: “We are absolutely committed to preventing these heinous crimes and ensuring those that commit them are brought to justice. Every child in West Yorkshire deserves to grow up free from harm and protecting our most vulnerable is a key priority.”
Abdul Rehman, 36, from Sheffield, was sentenced to three years, nine months after being convicted of two offences of engaging in or facilitating a child sex offence and supplying drugs.
Mohammed Kammer, 38, from Huddersfield, was sentenced to a total of seven years, six months after being convicted of three rapes offences and a trafficking for sexual exploitation offence.
Nahman Mohammed, 37, from Huddersfield, was sentenced to a total of seven years after being convicted of two rape offences and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Wiqas Mahmud, 42, from Huddersfield, was sentenced to a total of six years, three months after being convicted of a rape offence.
Mohammed Imran Ibrar, 38, from Huddersfield, was sentenced to a total of five years (minus 502 days) after being convicted of Sexual assault and a rape offence. His sentence with time deducted was three years six months.
Trials for Operation Tendersea began in 2018 and have resulted in the conviction of 42 men, some of whom have been tried more than once during the court process.
This still isn’t either of the several trials on-going or awaited that I have been keeping an eye on for over a year. Meanwhile I am going to repeat the words of prosecutor Richard Wright, KC from the first trance of convictions in 2018 as it is one of the best explanations of how these men work that I have read repeated from court. He said “none of the girls would have consented had they truly had free choice and not been groomed. ..Once the child is broken in that way and sexual activity with older men becomes a norm, they are passed about to other men who also use them sexually without any regard for whether or not they are consenting. This case is concerned with just that sort of grooming. These men did not only control these girls by grooming. “They were also quite capable of employing threats and violence if the need arose.”
Remember that “Once the child is broken in that way” CHILD. BROKEN.