Abuse defendant thought to have fled country arrested at airport

A CHILD abuse suspect who reportedly fled to Pakistan two months ago — after initially co-operating with police — has been arrrested today.

Officers arrested Basharat Hussain (38), of no fixed address, at Manchester Airport this morning.

He is accused of 15 offences including gross indecency towards a child, inciting a child to commit gross indecency, procuring a female for sex, indecent assault, rape, false imprisonment and procuring a female to be a prostitute.

The crimes are alleged to have taken place in Rotherham between 1996 and 2001.

Hussain helped investigators for months after his arrest in 2014 but left for Pakistan in June after being granted bail.

He failed to answer bail on June 9 and an arrest warrant was issued.

A police spokeswoman said then that the force could not confiscate Hussain’s passport, as he had not been charged with any offences.

Officers have now detained Hussain, who is due to appear before Rotherham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (Thursday).