Rotherham sexual abuse ‘ringleader’ handed further jail term

A man who was jailed for 19 years for subjecting a girl to a “campaign of violent rape” in Rotherham has been given a further sentence for sexually abusing another teenager in the town.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Sageer Hussain targeted the victim 25 years ago, when she was around 13 and Hussain two years older, and raped her in an alleyway.

He had previously been described as “the ringleader” of a group of men who sexually abused three girls between 1999 and 2003.

Hussain, 40, was found guilty of a further count of rape earlier this year and was told his three-year sentence would run consecutively to his current jail term.

Judge Charles Thomas told him: “The sad fact of this case is that, despite her young age at the time, you were not the first man to have abused and exploited her in this area and around this time.”

Hussain is nearing the end of the custodial element of his 19-year sentence, the sentencing heard, so the two jail terms will overlap.

A jury previously heard the victim, now aged in her 30s, was raped some time between July 2000 and July 2002.

Hussain led her down an alleyway in Rotherham town centre and said he would not let her back out unless she had sex with him, his trial heard.

The judge accepted the defendant was only a teenager himself at the time, but said to him: “You had a choice and you knew what you were doing, and you knew it was wrong.”

According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), officers from Operation Stovewood – the NCA’s investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham – contacted the victim after identifying she may have been sexually abused as a child.

Hussain was subsequently charged in February 2024.

NCA senior investigating officer Alan Hastings said: “The victim has shown enormous strength and fortitude in reporting what Sageer Hussain did to her.

“Hussain, who is already serving time for raping another girl, will now remain in prison for longer.”