A man who fled to Pakistan before he was found guilty of raping vulnerable girls as young as 12 has been jailed for 27 years in his absence.
Amar Ilyas, 41, who used the nickname Killer, “remorselessly terrorised” girls in Sheffield, biting one victim and using a gun and threats of gang rape to coerce others he abused almost 20 years ago, detectives have said.
Jailing Ilyas in his absence on Monday, Judge Peter Hampton praised the courage of the five women who gave evidence against him, saying their voices had finally been heard and they had been believed by jurors.
Judge Hampton contrasted this with the “cowardice” shown by the defendant, who fled to a different continent to avoid justice while he was on bail.
The judge said Ilyas “took the coward’s route and fled”.
He said: “He 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.”
The judge urged the authorities to use “all means” to bring him back to the UK.
Detectives from the National Crime Agency (NCA) have described how Ilyas subjected one child to “three years of relentless torment and rape” from the age of 12.
Ilyas was found guilty of raping four victims and sexually abusing a fifth in September 2025, and two of his brothers, Kamar and Kamran Ilyas, were found guilty earlier this year of a string of offences in relation to one of the girls Amar raped.
On Monday, Kamar Ilyas was jailed for 10 years and Kamran Ilyas for three years.
The brothers were arrested as part of the NCA’s Operation Stovewood, which is the huge investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, although this offending mainly took place in nearby Sheffield.
Judge Hampton told the defendants: “Your victims were targeted, sexualised and, in some cases, subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature.”
And the judge added: “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.”
Judge Hampton said: “They showed immeasurable courage in giving evidence.”
After reading again some of the impact statement of one of the victims, the judge said: “She and the other four complainants have now been listened to by these juries.
“They have now been believed.”
Earlier that complainant read her statement to the court.
She said: “For years I have endured the consequences of your actions while being made to feel that my voice did not matter and that I would never be believed.”
The woman said: “These three defendants exploited my vulnerability and stole my childhood.”
She said the offending has “carved itself into the foundation of my life”.
The woman said: “What they did to me didn’t end when the abuse stopped. It’s shaped every year of my life since.”
In a statement read to the court, another victim said: “No child should ever have to go through what I did.”
And, in a further read statement, a third victim said: “I am a survivor and you are a coward.”
A fourth complainant said: “I hope you go to hell for what you did to me.”
Amar Ilyas, 41, was convicted of five counts of rape of a child under 13, nine counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of indecent assault and one count of possession of an imitation firearm with the intent of causing fear of violence.
These were committed between 2004 and 2007, when he was 19 to 22.
Kamar Ilyas, 39, was convicted of one offence of rape of a child under 13 and two offences of sexual activity with a child.
These were committed between 2004-2006 when he was 17 to 20.
Kamran Ilyas, 38, was convicted of two offences of sexual activity with a child.
These were committed in 2004 when he was 17.
More than 50 people have been convicted after investigations under Operation Stovewood, which the NCA says is the largest law enforcement operation of its kind in the UK.
Stovewood has identified more than 1,100 children involved in exploitation between 1997 and 2013, and previous estimates have put its cost at about £90 million.
NCA senior investigating officer Alan Hastings said: “The court heard loud and clear from the women how the Ilyas brothers inflicted devastating suffering upon them, suffering which affects them to this day.”
Martin McRobb, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The brothers Amar Ilyas, Kamar Ilyas and Kamran Ilyas groomed a young girl with alcohol and drugs.
“They each sexually abused by preying on her vulnerability, causing her serious and lifelong harm.
“Amar Ilyas targeted four other young girls and subjected them all to the most horrendous acts of rape and sexual assault.
“They have now all been held accountable for their horrific and appalling predatory crimes.”
