19 May 2026
A RAPE gang has been sentenced to a total of 277 years behind bars after 20 people carried out “truly appalling” abuse of vulnerable girls.
The offences mainly took place in Dewsbury and Batley, north Kirklees, and involved three girls.
One was just 12 years old when the offences started in 1995. They ended in 2003.
Proceedings began at Leeds Crown Court in July 2023, with six separate trials taking place.
The last of those concluded in September 2024 with sentencing of the final suspect taking place in 2025.
Reporting restrictions had been put in place to “safeguard the fairness and integrity of the court process,” cops said, but these have now been lifted.
Those convicted have received sentences as high as 28 years, with one man alone convicted of ten rapes.
Ansar Mahmood Qayum, 49, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to ten years for three offences of rape and two offences of indecent assault.
This sentence was added to an existing 20-year sentence imposed on Qayum at court in a separate trial in another case in 2022, making a total sentence of 30 years.
Two other men were found by a court to have committed the acts they were charged with but were judged as unfit to enter pleas.
DCI Rob Stevens of Kirklees District Police said: “This has been a major investigation into truly appalling sexual abuse of vulnerable girls in Kirklees by a large number of sexual predators.
“Over an almost two-year period, juries have heard some shocking revelations about the dreadful way victims were abused by those involved.
“They were repeatedly sexually assaulted, in some cases given Class A drugs, and very much treated as commodities for the gratification of heartless predators.
“The very significant jailed terms given to some of these men, such as the 28-year sentence for Sajid Majid or the 20-year sentence handed to Aurrangzeb Azam who was found guilty of 10 separate rapes, speak volumes about their depravity and the abuse meted out to victims in this case.
He added: “Again, it cannot be stressed more highly that the reason this dreadful offending came to light was the courage of victims who have come forward and reported the offending they were subjected to.
“Every possible effort is made at West Yorkshire Police to support victims of sexual abuse, but we realise how difficult making reports and then supporting prosecutions can be.
“These women showed enormous bravery in giving evidence in lengthy trials and I hope they can feel a sense of pride in the determination they have displayed to see justice done, and in seeing people who have no place in society being put behind bars.”
Full list of offenders and sentences
- Ansar Mahmood Qayum, 49, from Dewsbury, was handed 10 years for three rapes and two indecent assaults—taking his total sentence to 30 years due to an existing 2022 conviction.
- Sajid Majid, 53, from Mirfield, was caged for 28 years after being found guilty of five counts of rape and three offences of indecent assault.
- Manaf Hussain, 51, from Heckmondwike, was hit with a 25-year sentence for six counts of rape and supplying Class A drugs.
- Tariq Azam, 57, from Dewsbury, was locked up for 24 years after being found guilty of five rapes and four offences of indecent assault.
- Zulfiqar Ali, 47, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 22 years and six months behind bars for four offences of rape.
- Aurrangzeb Azam, 56, from Dewsbury, started a 20-year prison stretch for ten counts of rape and an indecent assault.
- Shakeel Haq, 58, from Birmingham, was jailed for 19 years for three counts of rape and an offence of false imprisonment.
- Rafiq Patel, 73, from Batley, is serving an 18-year sentence for two offences of rape.
- Zaheed Ali Novsarka, 58, from Batley, was locked up for 18 years after being convicted of two counts of rape.
- Mohammed Sheikh, 53, from Batley, was handed a 14-year sentence for two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault.
- Mohammed Yasin, 52, from Batley, was given 14 years behind bars for an offence of rape and two indecent assaults.
- Liaquat Hussain Hanif, 49, from Batley, was sentenced to 12 years and six months for two rapes and supplying Class A drugs.
- Ebrahim Mananiat, 56, from Batley, was jailed for 12 years for two offences of rape.
- Ibrahim Khalifa, an 87-year-old pensioner from Bradford, was locked up for 11 years for two counts of rape.
- Shafiq Siddique, 56, from Dewsbury, has started serving an 11-year sentence behind bars for rape.
- Mohammed Munir Shaffi, 48, from Dewsbury, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for two offences of rape.
- Mohammed Ishtiaq Hussain, 51, from Dewsbury, was jailed for 8 years for an offence of rape.
- Abbas Kaji, 57, from Batley, was locked up for 7 years for a single offence of rape.
- Donna Lynn, 45, from Cleckheaton, was handed a 3-year sentence for an offence of controlling prostitution.
- Tasawar Hussain, 46, from Dewsbury, was given 3 years in prison for an offence of rape
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/39158030/rape-gang-jailed-appalling-abuse-girls/
