UK police ‘pursuing’ child grooming suspect who fled to Pakistan

38-year-old Basharat Hussain was arrested after the beginning of Operation Clover

London police are in hot pursuit to nab a suspect involved in grooming children in Rotherham town after he skipped bail and managed to flee to Pakistan. 

Thirty-eight-year-old Basharat Hussain was nabbed after the initiation of Operation Clover -- aimed at probing allegations of sexual exploitation of children -- and was released on bail in March.

Investigations revealed that three of Hussain’s brothers were also among eight others arrested charged for the same offences, paving way for a trial at Sheffield Crown Court in December this year.

Read: Shameless: Nine jailed for ‘grooming’ children

South Yorkshire Police did not name Hussain but said they have established contact with the 38-year-old man’s legal advisers to enable his return to Britain.

Explaining how the suspect got away, police spokesperson said he had not been charged as police at that time had no reason to believe he was a 'flight risk', adding they did not have powers to take his passport away before he could make an exit.

The suspect previously travelled abroad but did return to UK while he was out on bail, the spokesperson added.

A statement from the police said, “Investigations of this nature are often complex in nature and, as a result, often take a considerable amount of time to reach a stage where we are able to charge suspects.”

Read: SafeParent: New app helps detect child abuse

“As such, suspects are often placed on bail for a protracted amount of time, where travel abroad although not what we would want to happen is very difficult to prevent.

“Bail conditions, which prevented him from visiting Rotherham and contacting witnesses, were imposed on him.”

The article first appeared on The Star