Six in court accused of 70 South Yorkshire child sex offences

The six defendants have been charged with 70 child sexual exploitation offences including prostitution of children, sexual assault and rape between 2004 and 2011 in the Sheffield area.

South Yorkshire Police, which carried out an 18-month investigation into the alleged offences, was criticised in a report by MPs last week for “letting down” the victims of child sex abuse.

One of the six accused is a 22-year-old woman, Amanda Spencer, from Rotherham, who has been charged with 41 offences dating back as far as 2006.

The alleged offences relate to the sexual exploitation of nine girls and young women aged between 12 and 20, including arranging a child sexual offence and causing a child to become a prostitute.

She appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court yesterday alongside five fellow defendants from Sheffield, named as Lee Unwin, John McLachlan, Kareem Ahmed, Bashdar Hamadamin and a fifth man who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Unwin, 26, and McLachlan, 65, face one and two counts respectively of intentionally obtaining the sexual services of a child.

Ahmed, 29, of Sheffield, has been charged with one count of arranging or facilitating travel for the commission of a sexual offence, while Hamadamin, 26, is accused of one count of rape.

The fifth man faces three counts of sexual assault, one on a child under the age of 13.

No formal charges were entered but Spencer and Unwin told the court they intended to plead not guilty. All six were released on bail ahead of the next hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on July 4. A trial could take place in early 2014.

Police say 16 of the 17 alleged victims are female.

The police investigation began formally in January last year with up to 16 officers and staff working on the case at any one time.

Shaun Wright, police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire, says tackling child sexual exploitation is a “priority” for the county’s force and has put aside extra money to deal with the problem.

Local authorities in South Yorkshire were heavily criticised for being “inexcusably slow” to tackle widespread sexual abuse of children in a recent report by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

MPs said the force had “let down” victims and would be “striving to redeem their reputation”.