The latest grooming rape gang trial, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. From GB News and the Huddersfield Examiner.
Two sick brothers have been jailed after grooming and abusing young girls in Sheffield – and another is still on the run.
Amar Ilyas, 41, from Sheffield, was found guilty of multiple sexual offences against a number of young girls in the city following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court last year. A warrant has previously been issued for him and he still failed to turn up to his sentencing hearing on Monday. Known as “Killer” to his victims, Amar Ilyas used a gun and threats of gang rape to coerce young girls into abuse.
He remains in Pakistan, where he has claimed to be receiving medical treatment and unable to return to Britain. Today, Mr Justice Hampton said that Amar was “deliberately avoiding these proceedings for no other reason than cowardice”.
His brothers, Kamran Ilyas, 38, and Kamar Ilyas, 39, both also from Sheffield, were found guilty of a total of five sexual offences against one of the victims at their trial in March this year.
Amar was found guilty of 20 offences against five victims. The judge described Amar as a determined and predatory offender as he sentenced him to 27 years plus one year on an extended licence. The judge sentenced him consecutively for one “particularly brutal” rape, which he said demanded the punishment.
Another one of Amar’s victims was procured for him by his brother Kamran. Sheffield Crown Court heard that Amar had “already determined what was to happen to her” when he drove her out to the countryside.
Amar told the girl that she could not complain because she was Asian and that she would be disgraced due to her culture. “These comments have been proven to be incorrect,” said the judge.
GB News can reveal today that after his grooming gang offending, Amar Ilyas became a Labour Party candidate and a youth worker. He ran unsuccessfully for Labour in the City ward for Sheffield City Council in the 2016 elections.
His brothers were found guilty of five sexual offences against one of the girls, who was just 12 years old when Kamar met her.
In 2019, Ilyas, working as a taxi driver, was stabbed in the head by drug dealer Bassan Khan, who was later jailed for the attack.
The stabbing was part of a spate of violence that erupted in Sheffield, which included a shotgun being fired at the home of a local politician.
Ilyas was supported by activists from the Corbyn-backing Momentum group after the stabbing, who described him as a wonderful comrade in a fundraiser. The taxi driver was working as an anti-knife crime campaigner for the charity Mums United.
Mitigating for Amar, Bunty Lalit Batra, said: “Two medical notes have been submitted…The point I make of it is that he was young at the time. He’s 41 now. The last offence that took place, I think was in 2004. There has been no offending since that period of time.”
The judge said: “He is hiding in a different country. . . I urge law enforcement to locate him.”
Kamar was found guilty of rape of a child under 13 and sexual activity with a child when he was 17 to 20. He was jailed for 10 years, which he must serve two-thirds of until he is considered for parole.
His brother Kamran was convicted of sexual activity with a child in 2004 when he was 17. He was jailed today for three years and must serve half his sentence behind bars.
For Kamran, Stephen Spence, told the court: “There are testimonials and a letter from the defendant. It’s not an easy sentencing exercise with regards to this defendant because he was 17 at the time. . . One of them doesn’t involve the issue of consent and you will perhaps recall the evidence of a witness who said the complainant had taken something of a shine to this defendant . . . known as pretty boy and her having a degree of jealousy against her from other members.”
The judge said: “Given he was 17 and she was 13 and vulnerable and abused by his brothers, I’m sure you have got better points than that.”
The Ilyas brothers. Beauty is a subjective standard; either that or he had an uphill paper round later.
