As investigations continue to secure convictions for predators of young girls, Yorkshire is still feeling the effects of its darkest and most persistent scandal fifteen years after it first came to light.

Last week, seven men were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court for historic child sexual exploitation offences, following a “painstaking” and “complex” investigation by West Yorkshire Police.

The men were convicted of multiple rape and sexual offences against a girl aged between 13 and 15, committed between 2002 and 2004. One man, Raja Zulqurnean, 42, of Bradford, was sentenced to 18 to 23 years imprisonment along with eight others, whilst another six will be sentenced in due course.

The victim, known in court as “Anna,” described in her victim impact statement how the abuse had “taken away my basic rights and stolen my future.” 

She added: “The triumph of this trial has not left me triumphant. It has left me feeling pain for the girl I was when you came into my life.”

Fifteen years after the first conviction, Anna’s case is a poignant reminder that Yorkshire is still grappling with the legacy of widespread child sexual exploitation – where, between 1970 and 2013, institutions failed to protect thousands of vulnerable, underaged girls from child sex rings.

When did the abuse first come to light?

The abuse stretched across Yorkshire, trafficking girls across county lines in taxis, from Bradford and Leeds to Derby, Rochdale and beyond. This first gained national attention in Rotherham in 2010, when the first five men were convicted. 

Two years later, Andrew Norfolk, a journalist for The Times newspaper, published his investigation into a police report that warned thousands of these crimes were being committed by gangs of predominantly Asian men in the community. Yet, for a further 2 years, Rotherham Borough Council and South Yorkshire Police pursued no more convictions. 

The Jay Report

The Jay Report, a 2014 independent inquiry, led by Professor Alexis Jay, deemed the abuse “appalling”.

It estimated around 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. The report found that police and local authorities were inadequately equipped to deal with the widespread abuse, but also that concerns from social workers were often ignored, stemming from fears of allegations of racism against perpetrators, sexist attitudes towards the mostly working-class, white victims, and a desire to protect the town’s reputation.

Following its publication, multiple senior figures in local authority resigned, including Rotherham Council leader Roger Stone and South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright. 

Investigations across Yorkshire

The Jay Report prompted hundreds of investigations into grooming gangs, not only in Rotherham but across Yorkshire. 

This includes Operation Stovewood by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the single largest law enforcement investigation into child sexual exploitation in the UK, which jailed a further seven abusers for a combined 106 years in September 2024. 

In Huddersfield, Operation Tendersea jailed the largest gang ever convicted of child sexual offences between 2018 and 2020, some involving girls as young as 11. 

Similar prosecutions have followed in Calderdale, Keighley, and Sheffield, each uncovering networks of men who targeted vulnerable girls with alcohol, drugs, coercion, and violence. 

The ongoing fight for justice 

Over a decade later, cases like Anna’s in Bradford continue to be brought before the courts. 

With convictions ongoing and expected to last until 2027, child exploitation remains Yorkshire’s most shameful scandal and it will be for the foreseeable future — a reminder of the long, often painful process of justice for those whose childhoods were taken from them.