Notorious Rotherham grooming gang rapist could be FREED early for ‘good behaviour' after bid to move from jail

The Sun

30-04-2025

VICTIMS are outraged after it emerged a notorious Rotherham grooming gang rapist who tried to escape justice by fleeing to Pakistan could be freed early after a bid to move to an open prison
Basharat Hussain was part of a grooming gang jailed in 2017 for the "systematic" sexual abuse of teenage girls in the town - including brave Sammy Woodhouse, whose evidence first helped expose the scandal.
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Basharat was put behind bars for 25 years after he was found guilty of 15 charges including rape and abduction. He was also convicted of an additional indecent assault and received a further seven-year sentence, to run concurrently.
But now, Basharat is being considered for a move to an open prison, in a move Sammy has blasted as "disgusting".
The Sun understands that Basharat will be eligible to be moved into open conditions because he is three years away from his conditional release date. With time spent on remand, Basharat will have served over 50 percent of his sentence in three years - making him eligible for release.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: 'Offenders must pass thorough risk assessments before they can be moved to an open prison and if they break the rules they will be immediately returned to closed conditions.'
Prisoners must pass a three-step step good behaviour test before the transfer is approved - including proving they are at low risk of absconding, that they have reduced their risk of harming members of the public and can prove they have a "wholly persuasive case" for the move.
Sick Basharat was jailed alongside his brothers Arshid "Mad Ash" Hussain and Banaras "Bono" Hussain in 2017 in a case that made British history for handing out the highest ever sentences for child sexual exploitation.
The three men were part of a vile gang that groomed and raped children for nearly 20 years.
However Banaras Hussain was also released early back in December 2025, after serving only nine years of a 19 year sentence.
Victim turned-campaigner Sammy, who has a son born from being raped by Arshid age 15 and gave evidence against all three men - hit out at the latest move.
"I received a message from a victim liaison officer asking for my views on Bash being moved to an open prison, that's how I found out about it," she told The Sun.
"It's absolutely insane - he's only served eight years of a 25 year sentence. He should serve his whole sentence or what's the point of giving it out?
"I met Bash before his brother Ash - my main abuser - and he did kiss me and try to groom me but I ran off. But he abused me friends.
"So even though there was no charges against Bash for me, I was still cross examined by his barrister. I gave perpetrator names, victims' names, evidence, everything, to the police about all of them.
"The thing with Bash is that before the trial he fled to Pakistan and tried to force one of the main witnesses against him to go with him. They had to force him to return for the trial.
'DANGEROUS MEN'
"While I was being exploited, Ash took me to this flat and told me that Bash and another man had killed someone there by giving them clear cut heroin - and he went into detail and showed me where everything happened. Now he might have just been making it up to scare me, or he might have told the truth. I told police everything so they could check if any bodies had been found there, but they told me they weren't even looking into it.
"It's disgusting - these are dangerous men and we've all been let down time and time again.
"I'm so p****d off with the whole thing - when all this went to trial they had over a hundred charges between the three brothers.
"But so many charges were taken off because they said there were so many offences and all I got told is 'There's too many charges - but it doesn't matter because they are all going to be in prison for a long time'.
'WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR?'
"So then at the end of the trial I was thinking, 'Well it's ok, they've pretty much been put away for life or a very long time' only to be told now he might be getting out soon, it makes me think 'What was it all for?'
"Obviously what came from that trial, and from me exposing the grooming gangs in Rotherham, it changed the whole country, so that keeps me positive about it, but if this was an ordinary case involving just me and they were now getting out, if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done it - I wouldn't have given evidence against them. It wouldn't have been worth it."
On the government's websites Category D or open prisons, where Basharat is likely to be moved, are described as having "minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence to carry out work, education or for other resettlement purposes",
Sammy, who has received death threats over her involvement in the case, which she has reported to police, says she feels "unsafe" knowing Basharat will likely be allowed in and out of open prison.
"I won't get told which open prison he will be moved to and I won't be told where he is living when he's out, but I have to tell them where I am," Sammy, who first reported about Basharat's prison move on her X account, said.
"It was the same when Bono [Banneras] got released before Christmas I had to give over my details because they aren't allowed to contact me or my family - but I'm not allowed to know any of theirs. I had to tell them my grandchildren's names - it felt like a breach of my privacy.
"When I asked what prison they are in, they say 'We can't tell you because of data protection, when I asked where Bono was going to be living 'We can't tell you', whatever I ask it's the same 'We can't tell you'. It just feels like the entire system protects rapists rather than us."
Sammy, who was groomed from the age of 14, has been campaigning against grooming for years and is currently fighting for children born of rape to be considered victims of crime in the eyes of the law.
She says she has recently had family members of her abuser contacting her family for pictures of her grandson.
"I recently spoke to a solicitor because his family has been contacting members of my family, and he told me that if they went to court and sought a contact order they could gain access to see my grandchild," she said.
"People might think, 'That would never happen, they wouldn't let the family of her rapist see her grandchild' but it could happen unless the law is changed properly."
GROOMING TRIAL
Sammy's main abuser Arshid, of Goole, was jailed for 35 years after being convicted of 23 of the 28 charges he faced, including indecent assault, rape, abduction, false imprisonment and making threats to kill.
Banaras pleaded guilty before the trial to 10 charges, including two counts of rape and six of indecent assault and received a lesser sentence of 19 years.
A month-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court heard how the men "sexualised" their victims and in some cases subjected them to acts of a "degrading and violent nature".
Known around the South Yorkshire town by their nicknames of Mad Ash, Bash and Bono - the three brothers were drug dealers who ruled the roost using violence and fear, the court heard.
The grooming took place in houses, lock-up garages, churchyards and public spaces across the town, including Clifton Park.
The victims were forced to perform sex acts, often on several men at a time, and also forced to store guns and drugs for the gang.
Their uncle Qurban Ali was also found guilty of conspiracy to rape and jailed for 10 years.
Back in 2015, Basharat skipped bail and fled to Pakistan after being arrested on a number of offences.
A 30-year-old woman - who said Basharat left her fearing for her life on one occasion after threatening to shoot her - says she was driven to an airport and expected to board a flight, but could not go through with it.
She claims Hussain had trapped her in a physically, psychologically and sexually abusive relationship from the age of 15, during which he made several threats to kill her.
She told police in an interview: 'I never wanted to go to Pakistan. His cousin drove me to the airport but when I got there I couldn't do it.
"I just couldn't go because I knew what my life would be, there.'
The woman, who cannot be named, also claims 'controlling' Hussain told her how to dress and behave during years of terror.
He said he once locked her in a flat for two days after dragging her home from a night out in Barnsley with friends.
The woman says Hussain once even sent her a text message telling her 'point blank' that he was going to shoot her.
GROOMING SCANDAL
It comes after it was revealed that members of the same grooming gang who preyed on teenage girls got £611,204 in legal aid.
Details of the funding for the Rotherham monsters comes days after Labour went back on its abuse inquiry promises.
Seven men were jailed for a combined 101 years in 2018 for grooming and abusing five girls in the South Yorkshire town from 1998 to 2005.
Ringleader Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 43, who was sentenced to 23 years in jail, got £143,696 in legal aid.
His total does not include costs for a separate trial last year in which he got a 12-year term for raping a girl of 13 after plying her with booze and drugs.
Labour's pathetic response to grooming gangs
By Tony Parsons
THIS Labour government never looked more pathetically gutless than in its response to the grooming gangs.
The systematic and nationwide sexual exploitation of vulnerable young white girls by organised gangs of largely Pakistani men is the greatest scandal of our time.
And Labour doesn't want to know. In January, the Government announced a £5million fund for five local inquiries into grooming gangs.
That was an obscenely inadequate response to mass child sex abuse.
These atrocities played out in scores of cities and towns for decades.
Councils that failed vulnerable children can't be allowed to investigate their own failures.
Now, that already derisory response has been watered down even further.
Forty-five minutes before the House of Commons broke for the Easter holidays, Jess Phillips of the Home Office told an almost empty chamber that the Government would now be taking a 'flexible' approach to local grooming gang inquiries.
At the discretion of the councils involved, that £5million fund can now be spent on other projects.
This is more than political cowardice. It stinks of a cover-up. The scandal of the grooming gangs screams out for a statutory inquiry where witnesses are made to give evidence.
This is exactly what we had with the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry, the Covid inquiry and the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
A formal investigation, conducted within a legal framework. Anything less is a cop-out. Anything less is running from the ugly truth.
Five other defendants, aged from 40 to 45 and jailed for between ten and 20 years, each received between £60,147 and £99,168 in legal aid.
The seventh, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had £90,849.
All bar one of the gang were convicted of rape — and one of them fell asleep in court as impact statements put forward by the victims were read out.
News of the gang's legal aid bill comes after the Government was accused of axing local child rape inquiries to appease Pakistani voters.
Former Equalities Commission chief Sir Trevor Phillips called ministers 'utterly shameful' for watering down a series of investigations.
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