Child sex abuse trial: Rotherham councillor

From the Rotherham Advertiser

FORMER Rotherham Council deputy leader Jahangir Akhtar (pictured) was involved in a “no prosecution handover deal” for child sex abuse suspect Arshid Hussain, a court has been told.

A complainant in the ongoing child sex abuse trial in Rotherham alleges the “deal” took place when she had gone missing from home with defendant Arshid Hussain when she was a teenager.

The woman said Mr Akhtar had rung Hussain and told her he had to take her home, and then they drove to a petrol station to meet police.

Defending Arshid Hussain, Mr Stephen Uttley, asked the woman to talk more about the incident she had told police about in an interview involving “PC Ali and Jahangir Akhtar at a petrol station”.

The woman said she could not remember if PC Ali had been at the petrol station as there had been a lot of officers in uniform, but remembers Hussain being in a phone box talking to him prior to it.

Mr Uttley said: “You say Mr Akhtar was there and you were taken home. The police have checked the pocket books of PC Ali and his colleagues, there does not appear to be any mention of that day.”

The woman answered: “I never said PC Ali were on shift, we just used to deal with him all the time.” The woman said she always used to see PC Ali out and about. She added: “He was always really nice, there were not many officers that were nice to me but he always were.”

Mr Uttley asked if she was “aware PC Ali was tragically killed earlier last year” and she replied: “Yes”.

Mr Uttley said this meant the court couldn’t hear from him on the matter, to which the woman replied: “I did my statements before that happened, so they could have had the chance to question him.”