A former youth worker is among three brothers who have been convicted of grooming gang offences in Sheffield, in a case that has exposed years of abuse carried out against young girls. The convictions cap a major trial, with sentencing for the men due to be handed down.
The three brothers, Amar Ilyas and his two younger brothers, were found guilty of child sex abuse against a total of five victims. The case centred on how the men preyed on young girls in the city, exploiting and abusing them over a sustained period.
The eldest brother, Amar, who was known to his victims as Killer, is described as having played a particularly menacing role. According to the case, he used a gun and threats of gang rape to coerce young girls into abuse, instilling fear to keep them under his control.
There was, however, a notable absence in court. Amar had been due to be jailed alongside his younger brothers, but he absconded before his trial and is now believed to be in Pakistan, leaving him to be convicted while beyond the immediate reach of the British justice system.
The scale of the offending is laid bare in the verdicts. Amar was found guilty of 20 offences against five victims, while his two younger brothers were found guilty of five sexual offences against one of the girls, who was just 12 years old at the time.
Adding to the public concern around the case, GB News reported that after his grooming gang offending, Amar went on to become a Labour Party candidate and a youth worker, roles that placed him in positions of trust and contact with young people in the community.
The brothers' story is also entangled with wider violence in Sheffield. In 2019, Amar Ilyas, then working as a taxi driver, was stabbed in the head by a drug dealer who was later jailed for the attack, part of a spate of violence in the city that also saw a shotgun fired at the home of a local politician.