See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy GLEN KEOGH, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT and MARK LISTER Published: 18:22 BST, 22 June 2026 | Updated: 20:13 BST, 22 June 2026
Three brothers who raped and sexually abused girls as young as 12 in Rotherham and Sheffield have been jailed as part of a long-running criminal investigation into grooming gangs.Amar Ilyas, who used the nickname 'Killer', was convicted of 20 historic sex offences including 13 counts of rape against five young victims.Three of the girls were aged 13 or under - and the eldest was just 18 - when the abuse took place in the 2000s.But the 41-year-old – branded a 'coward' by a judge on Monday – has still not been brought to justice after he fled to Pakistan ahead of his sentencing and remains on the run.He was jailed for 27 years in his absence as Sheffield Crown Court heard he 'remorselessly terrified' girls in the South Yorkshire city, biting one victim and using a gun and threats of gang rape to coerce others into sexual activity.Judge Peter Hampton urged the authorities to use 'all means' to bring him back to the UK.His younger brothers Kamar, 39, and Kamran, 38, were jailed for 10 years and three years respectively for sex offences.The brothers were finally arrested in June 2020 by National Crime Agency officers from Operation Stovewood, an estimated £90million operation investigating allegations of grooming and sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.It is the largest operation of its kind in the UK.One woman had been contacted by officers who identified she may have been a victim of child sexual abuse.She described being raped at the hands of Amar and subsequently four other victims were identified. Amar Ilyas, 41, nicknamed 'Killer', has been jailed for 27 years in his absence for the rape and sexual abuse of five girls Kamar Ilyas, 39, was jailed for 10 years for rape and other sexual offences Kamran Ilyas, the youngest of the brothers, was jailed for three years. The men were convicted as part of the National Crime Agency's Operation Stovewood investigationReading a victim impact statement at court, one complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: 'The three defendants exploited my vulnerability and destroyed my childhood.'She said the brothers 'degraded… ridiculed and humiliated' their victims after forcing sex upon them.The court heard that the trio sexually abused one vulnerable girl in locations across Sheffield between 2004 and 2008, when she was just 12.She was introduced to Amar by his brother Kamar, who had obtained her mobile phone number and had sex with her before passing her around his brothers.Amar subsequently raped the 'lonely and vulnerable' girl on a weekly basis for three years, the court heard.She said that on one occasion Amar gave her a cigarette laced with crack cocaine before raping her.Another time, Amar showed the girl a handgun he kept in his car before taking her into a wooded area and raping her.Judge Hampton said Amar 'continues to try and manipulate the proceedings from abroad, having his counsel espouse his good work for the community whilst simultaneously cowering from these proceedings in a different jurisdiction.'More than 50 people have been convicted after investigations under Operation Stovewood, which has identified around 1,100 children sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013.It was set up following the findings of the 2014 Jay Report into child sexual abuse in Rotherham, written by Professor Alexis Jay, which confirmed reports that hundreds of girls had been abused by gangs of men predominantly of Pakistani heritage.Jailing the brothers, Judge Hampton said: 'Your victims were targeted, sexualised and, in some cases, subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature.'They were naive and young, reaching adolescence and susceptible to the attention that was given to them.'Some were groomed, some coerced and intimidated and some violently raped.'
