❓WHAT HAPPENED: A man has been found guilty of grooming and raping two young girls in Rotherham, England during the early 2000s.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Obaidullah Omari, 46, and two victims aged between 13 and 14 at the time of the abuse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The abuse occurred in Rotherham between 2003 and 2004. Omari was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court.
💬KEY QUOTE: “What they have been through is unimaginable, yet they were still able to tell us their stories and give evidence.” – Alan Hastings, National Crime Agency (NCA)
🎯IMPACT: To date, 48 predators have been convicted through Operation Stovewood, which continues to investigate grooming gang abuse in Rotherham.
Obaidullah Omari, 46, has been found guilty of grooming and raping two young girls in Rotherham, England, during the early 2000s. The offences, which took place between 2003 and 2004, involved victims aged 13 and 14. A jury at Sheffield Crown Court convicted Omari of three counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault following a two-week trial. He was sentenced to 19 years on Thursday.
The case is part of Operation Stovewood, a major investigation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) into child sexual exploitation by mostly Muslim, Pakistani-background groomers targeting mostly white, working-class girls in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. With Omari’s conviction, 48 predators have now been found guilty under the operation, making it the largest investigation of its kind.
Alan Hastings, a senior investigating officer with the NCA, praised the victims for their strength in coming forward: “What they have been through is unimaginable, yet they were still able to tell us their stories and give evidence.” He emphasized that the investigation remains active and continues to support survivors.
In Parliament, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips confirmed that 1,273 closed grooming cases have been reopened for review, with 216 being prioritized “as a matter of urgency.” She also claimed there has been progress on organizing a national inquiry into rape gangs, stating: “The chair must have credibility and experience to command the confidence of victims and survivors as well as the wider public.” A dedicated panel of survivors will supposedly assist in the selection process.
Public trust in how the media and authorities have handled the grooming gang scandals remains low. A January 2025 poll revealed that a plurality of 43 percent of Britons believe the media downplayed the issue due to “political correctness,” compared to only 18 percent who disagreed. Journalist Andrew Norfolk, who helped expose the scandal, admitted, “I didn’t want the story to be true because it made me deeply uncomfortable.”
In July 2025, several women came forward claiming South Yorkshire Police officers abused them during the original Rotherham crisis. One survivor says she was raped in a marked police car and threatened with being returned to her abusers. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now overseeing an investigation into these claims.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage recently warned that the grooming scandal is only “getting worse,” highlighting a case involving a father arrested while trying to rescue his trafficked daughter. He accused police of systemic failure and called for the Rotherham case to be included in the national inquiry.
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