Grooming Gang Member who fled to Pakistan is Jailed

A grooming gang member who went on the run has finally been captured and imprisoned.

Umar Zaman, aged 34, of Huddersfield, was sentenced to eight years in prison in his absence following a major child sex abuse investigation under Operation Tendersea in November 2019.

A jury found him guilty of two counts of raping a teenage girl in Kirklees.

Zaman had previous convictions for burglary, the supply and possession of Class A drugs, violence and racially aggravated public order offences and has previously served prison sentences.

He had been released on bail under several conditions.

This includes not leaving the UK or making attempts to do so.

Zaman was also ordered to surrender his passport to police, not apply for or be in possession of any other travel documents, live and sleep at his home address and report to Huddersfield police station between 10 am and 2 pm on Mondays and Thursdays.

But after he was arrested, Zaman fled the country to Pakistan.

The investigation was set up after a young woman told police in 2013 that she had been sexually abused as a child.

The operation uncovered grooming gangs in Huddersfield who exploited vulnerable young women and girls as far back as 1995.

So far, those arrested under it have been ordered to spend a total of 470 years before bars.

Zaman was rearrested on May 30, 2022, when he tried to return to the UK.

Zaman was jailed for eight years. He received a further eight months for failing to surrender to bail.

At the time he was originally meant to be sentenced, a member of the prosecution told Leeds Crown Court he had been spotted in a village in Pakistan.

DCI Ian Thornes of Kirklees District Police, said:

“We have maintained as a force that we will do everything possible to seek justice for victims of sexual abuse in Kirklees and pledged we would not stop the hunt for Zaman till he was located and brought to justice.

“He is now behind bars where he belongs and his arrest and conviction should serve as a warning to those who think they can escape justice that the police will not stop till they are made to answer for what they have done.”