Child sex offenders latest to be jailed as part of Huddersfield grooming gang investigation

Manzoor Akhtar, 31, has been jailed for four years and six months after being found guilty of raping a young girl between 2005 and 2006.

Akhtar, from the Crosland Moor area of the town, is the latest person to be convicted in the ongoing Operation Tendersea investigation over the historic sexual abuse of young girls.

Girls were abused by multiple men in the town between 1995 and 2011 and 35 men have so far been jailed for a total of 380 years over the crimes.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Akhtar sexually assaulted his victim when she was aged between 13 and 14 years of age.

He was sentenced at the court on Wednesday last week.

Another man, from Dewsbury, has also been jailed for 12 months as part of the sexual abuse probe.

Shaqeel Hussain, 36, of Spen Valley Road, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to an indecent assault committed in Huddersfield between 2004 and 2005 on a 16-year-old girl.

Hussain is already serving an eight-year sentence for the rape of a 14-year-old girl as part of the Tendersea investigation, in a trial from February of this year. He was told he must serve the 12 months consecutively with his current sentence.

Commenting on the conviction of Manzoor Akhtar, Detective Chief Inspector Richard McNamara of the Kirklees District CID, said: “Akhtar richly deserves the prison sentence he has been given after being found guilty and convicted for the dreadful sexual abuse of this young victim.

“He thought nothing of this girl’s obvious very young age as he raped her and treated her in a fashion which can only be described as callous in the extreme.”

DCI McNamara said he was also pleased that the force was now able to name Shaqeel Hussain.

He said: “Hussain was convicted for rape in an Operation Tendersea trial in February 2020 but at the time we were not able to release his identity. He has now been sentenced after pleading guilty to an indecent assault on a 16 year old victim, and can be named as reporting restrictions have been lifted.

“He will face a total of nine years in prison in total for both of these depraved offences in which he showed no regard whatsoever for his victims.

He added: “A repeated feature of these cases has been the stunning bravery of the now young women who have come forward to tell us about the abuse they suffered and then doing everything they can to support the police and CPS in taking action against those who abused them.

“The courage of victims is helping us take dangerous predators such as Manzoor Akhtar and Shaqeel Hussain off our streets, show them for what they are, and put them behind bars where they belong.”