Fourth brother jailed for child sex offences

Sageer Hussain (31) will today follow his brothers Arshid Hussain (41), Basharat Hussain (40) and Bannaras Hussain (37) in beginning a prison sentence for rape and sexual abuse.

The three older Hussain brothers were jailed in February this year after being found guilty of 48 sexual offences against 20 children as young as 12 between 1987 and 2003 following a ten-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

The brothers were charged as part of the first phase of Operation Clover, which was launched by South Yorkshire Police to investigate historic child sex abuse in the wake of the Jay Report.

Sageer Hussain and his seven co-defendants were charged as part of the second phase of the same investigation.

A reporting restriction placed on the latest trial barred the media from referring to the first Operation Clover trial but has been lifted today.

Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras's offences mainly occurred in Rotherham but also spanned Sheffield, York, London and Blackpool.

Former pimps Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras are serving 35, 25 and 19-year sentences respectively.

Father-of-six Bannaras was the only brother to plead guilty after admitting to ten charges against seven girls.

Their younger brother Sageer was found guilty of four counts of rape and indecent assault against a 13-year-old girl in 2003 after a four-week trial which ended on October 17.

Basharat, who featured in both trials, was found guilty of indecent assault against the same girl.

Sageer’s co-defendant and cousin, Asif Ali, now follows his father, Qurban Ali, into prison.

Qurban, whose brother is the Hussain's father, was jailed for ten years in February alongside his three nephews after being found guilty of conspiracy to rape.

Arshid and Basharat Hussain and Qurban Ali (54) have lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences and Bannaras has lodged an appeal against his sentence.

No dates have been fixed for their hearings.

Two of Qurban Ali’s other sons have also been in court with offences relating to their father's trial.

Shiraz Ali (22) was handed a community order after he attacked a Rotherham Advertiser photographer as he left Rotherham Magistrates' Court in July 2015 following his dad's appearance.

Shiraz was on licence at the time of the offence after being handed a seven-year prison sentence in 2010 for grievous bodily harm.

Qurban's teenage son, Kaleem Ali (18) was sentenced to a 12-month community order in April this year after being found guilty of intimidating a witness due to give evidence at his father’s trial.

Child sex abuse trial: Gang jailed for a total of 96 years