Three men have been convicted of raping teenage girls in Rotherham in the early 2000s. The case is part of Operation Stovewood, the UK’s largest investigation into child sexual abuse.
Rotherham Abuse Victims Finally See Justice 25 Years Later
Three men have been convicted of raping teenage girls in Rotherham in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as part of the UK’s largest ever child sexual abuse investigation.
Kessur Ajaib, 43, Sageer Hussain, 39, and Mohammed Makhmood, 43, were found guilty of multiple charges related to the rape and abuse of underage girls in isolated locations across the South Yorkshire town. Their crimes took place between 1999 and 2002, when the victims were around 14 years old.
The verdicts mark the latest convictions under the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, a wide-ranging investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Details of the Abuse
During the trial, the court heard how Sageer Hussain, already serving a 19-year sentence for the 2016 rape of a 13-year-old girl, raped another teenage girl after luring her down an alleyway in Rotherham town centre. She told the jury she cried throughout the assault as her escape route was blocked by others present.
The second victim, also aged about 14 at the time, was raped by Ajaib in an alleyway and by Makhmood in an old graveyard. Prosecutor Andrew Bailey said Makhmood verbally abused the girl—calling her a “slag” and a “dirty b***h”—before spitting at her and laughing during the attack.
The survivors, now in their 30s, described how they had been manipulated, isolated, and traumatised—leaving emotional scars that lasted for decades.
Guilty Verdicts and Sentencing
Here’s how the charges broke down:
- Kessur Ajaib, of Walter Street, Rotherham:
- Found guilty of one count of rape and one count of indecent assault
- Acquitted of a second rape charge
- Found guilty of one count of rape and one count of indecent assault
- Mohammed Makhmood, of Falding Street, Rotherham:
- Found guilty of one count of rape
- Found guilty of one count of rape
- Sageer Hussain, currently serving time for a separate offence:
- Found guilty of one count of rape
- Acquitted of two additional rape charges involving the second victim
- Found guilty of one count of rape
All three men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced in November:
- Hussain: November 7
- Ajaib and Makhmood: November 21
Operation Stovewood: UK’s Largest Abuse Inquiry
These convictions are part of Operation Stovewood, the largest child sexual exploitation investigation in UK history, run by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
To date, over 1,100 victims have been identified, and 46 people have been convicted.
Alan Hastings, the NCA’s senior investigating officer, praised the courage of the survivors:
“Ajaib, Hussain and Makhmood subjected two young girls to devastating acts of sexual abuse. Those victims have now, at last, had their voices heard and their accounts believed.”
A Town Haunted by History
Rotherham’s history with systemic child sexual exploitation has been widely documented, with reports exposing institutional failures across social services and law enforcement. Many survivors came forward only years later, having initially been too terrified or dismissed by authorities.
Prosecutor Liz Fell, of the Crown Prosecution Service, described the men’s behaviour as premeditated and cruel:
“These men deliberately exploited the victims’ youth and vulnerability to manipulate and control them. They sexually abused the victims, who were children, in the most horrendous way.”
Hussain’s Long History of Abuse
Sageer Hussain is no stranger to the justice system. In 2016, he was convicted alongside seven other men—all found guilty of abusing the same 13-year-old girl. His three brothers—Arshid, Basharat, and Bannaras Hussain—were previously jailed for 35, 25, and 19 years, respectively, for their roles in the same ring.
The trial judge at the time, Judge Sarah Wright, described the abuse as systematic:
“She was targeted, sexualised, and subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature.”
Justice, at Last
While these new convictions cannot undo the trauma inflicted on the victims, they do offer a long-overdue acknowledgment of their suffering. Operation Stovewood continues to investigate historical abuse cases across Rotherham, as authorities aim to bring more perpetrators to justice.
If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual abuse, support is available through Rape Crisis (0808 802 9999) or NSPCC (0808 800 5000).
Source: Mirror.co.uk
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