Paedophile, 31, is jailed for four years after raping 13-year-old girl as he becomes 35th member of Asian grooming gang to be sentenced to total of 380 years over child sex abuse

• Manzoor Akhtar, 31, of Crosland Moor, Huddersfield jailed for rape of girl, 13
• Shaqeel Hussain, 36, has 12 months added to previous eight-year sentence
• Hussain, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, received previous sentence for raping girl, 14
• Akhtar pleads guilty rape and Hussain to indecent assault at Leeds Crown Court

A paedophile has become the 35th member of an Asian grooming gang to be jailed as part of a major police investigation.

Manzoor Akhtar, 31, has been jailed for four years for raping a young girl he had groomed when she was just 13.

Another man, Shaqeel Hussain, 36, has had 12 months add to a previous sentence after admitting indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl.

He had previously received an eight-year prison sentence at his last trial for raping a 14-year-old girl. 

The latest convictions mean 35 men have now been jailed as part of Operation Tendersea, a multi-agency investigation into historic child sexual exploitation in Huddersfield, West Yorks.

The group have been jailed for a total of 380 years between them.

Manzoor Akhtar (left), 31, has been jailed for four years for raping a young girl he had groomed when she was just 13.  Shaqeel Hussain (right), 36, has had 12 months added an eight-year prison sentence handed out at a previous trial for raping a 14-year-old girl

Leeds Crown Court heard that Akhtar, of Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, sexually assaulted the victim during 2005 and 2006.

Meanwhile, Hussain, 36, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, can now be named as reporting restrictions were lifted after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.  

Detective Chief Inspector Richard McNamara of the Kirklees District CID, said: 'Akhtar richly deserves the prison sentence he has been given after being found guilty and convicted for the dreadful sexual abuse of this young victim.

'He thought nothing of this girl's obvious very young age as he raped her and treated her in a fashion which can only be described as callous in the extreme.'

DCI McNamara said he was also pleased that Shaqeel Hussain could now be named.

He said: 'Hussain was convicted for rape in an Operation Tendersea trial in February 2020 but at the time we were not able to release his identity.

'He has now been sentenced after pleading guilty to an indecent assault on a 16 year old victim, and can be named as reporting restrictions have been lifted.

'He will face a total of nine years in prison in total for both of these depraved offences in which he showed no regard whatsoever for his victims.'

DCI McNamara said: 'A repeated feature of these cases has been the stunning bravery of the now young women who have come forward to tell us about the abuse they suffered and then doing everything they can to support the police and CPS in taking action against those who abused them.

What is Operation Tendersea? 

Six men were jailed today for the rape and sexual exploitation of teenagers in Huddersfield. 

A seventh is due to be sentenced tomorrow. 

It means that a total of 34 men have now been convicted following West Yorkshire Police's Operation Tendersea investigation into child sexual exploitation in the town, with prison sentences totalling more than 300 years. 

So far, six cases have been heard through the operation, leading to multiple convictions and total sentences of 377 and a half years. 

It is the single biggest group of convicted rapists in the same area. 

Another trial stemming from the operation is due to start in April. 

DCI Richard McNamara of Kirklees District, West Yorkshire Police said today: 'Operation Tendersea should send a very clear message that the Police and our Partners at Kirklees will not hesitate to pursue those who sexually abuse children and we will do all we can to seek justice for the victims, no matter when, or how long ago the abuse took place.

'I would urge anyone who may have been the victim of child sexual abuse in Kirklees or elsewhere who has not contacted us to come forwards.'  

'The courage of victims is helping us take dangerous predators such as Manzoor Akhtar and Shaqeel Hussain off our streets, show them for what they are, and put them behind bars where they belong.'

As previously reported by MailOnline in February, six men who were convicted of raping two vulnerable schoolgirls were sentenced to a combined 55 and a half years in prison.

Usman Ali, Banaras Hussain, Abdul Majid, Gul Riaz and two other defendants were sentenced after a four-week trial at Leeds Crown Court.

The sickening abuse took place between 1995 and 2011 in Huddersfield and the girls were aged just 13 and 14 when they fell victim to the vile gang.

The court heard that the schoolgirls were 'made to feel special' by the 'vile and wicked' predators who then treated them as 'objects to be used and abused at will'.

By the time she was 15, the first victim had been raped by 300 men.

The defendants were convicted of nine counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault after the sixth trial to come from the Tendersea inquiry.  

Ali, 34, of Huddersfield, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of two offences of rape against one victim.

Riaz, 43, also of Huddersfield, was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty of rape and two indecent assaults against one girl and rape against the other.

Banaras Hussain, 39, of Shipley, was jailed for nine and a half years after being found guilty of raping one of the schoolgirls.

Abdul Majid, 36, of Huddersfield, was sentenced to 11 years after being found guilty of raping one victim twice.

A fifth, 30 and also from Huddersfield, was jailed for four years for raping one of the girls. The sixth was Hussain, who could not be named at the time.