Court round-up: Rapist jailed for 20 years, £17m cash smugglers sentenced and teaching assistant locked up
A rapist who threatened to kill his victim and her family, members of a gang involved in smuggling almost £17m out of the UK and a teaching assistant who sexually abused a teenage girl are among the latest cases heard in Yorkshire courts.
A number of serious criminal cases have recently been heard in courts across Yorkshire. Here is a round-up of some of the latest sentences and hearings.
Rapist jailed for 20 years after threatening to kill victim and her family
A Sheffield rapist who threatened to kill his victim and her family if she did not withdraw her complaint to police has been jailed for 20 years.
Farman Ali, 28, of The Oval, Longley, subjected the woman to a series of sexual attacks, including multiple rapes.
After discovering she had reported him to police, Ali tracked her down and threatened to murder her and her parents if she continued to pursue the case.
Sheffield Crown Court heard he dictated messages for the woman to send to the investigating officer saying she no longer wished to support the prosecution.
Despite the threats, she told police about Ali's attempts to force her to withdraw her complaint.
Ali denied responsibility and took the case to trial, where a jury convicted him of several offences, including sex offences and intimidating a witness.
He was sentenced on Thursday (Oct 1), with Judge David Dixon telling the victim: “You are an incredibly brave and strong woman to have come forward.”
Two women who assisted Ali in his abuse of the victim were also jailed. Zarina Zarina, 60, and Saadia Mohammad, 43, were each sentenced to three years and two months in prison.
Yorkshire members of £17m cash smuggling gang jailed
Members of an organised crime gang who helped smuggle millions of pounds in criminal cash out of the UK and into the United Arab Emirates have been jailed.
An investigation by the National Crime Agency found couriers transported cash in suitcases on Emirates flights leaving Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels between December 2017 and November 2019.
Four members of the gang from Yorkshire worked as part of the operation, which smuggled almost £17m across several trips to the UAE.
Cash was collected from organised crime groups in locations including Sheffield and Huddersfield before hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time was concealed in clothes inside suitcases.
Devanyl Graham, 27, from Dewsbury, flew to Dubai 18 times, declaring a total of £4m in cash on arrival. He was jailed for six years.
Heather Jeffrey, 58, her son Sheldan Noel, 30, and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, all from Bradford, were also involved in collecting and transporting cash.
Jeffrey was jailed for six and a half years, while Lamara Noel was sentenced to five years.
Other members of the wider group were also sentenced, while further sentencing remained outstanding.
NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said: “Illicit cash is the lifeblood of organised crime groups, fuelling violence and insecurity around the world.”
Teaching assistant jailed for sexually abusing teenage girl
A Bradford teaching assistant who groomed and sexually abused a teenage girl he was supposed to be looking after has been jailed for 16 months.
Aasim Qureshi, 37, of High Park Crescent, admitted three counts of sexual activity with a child at Bradford Crown Court.
The girl was aged between 15 and 16 when she was abused at a care home in the Bradford district in 2021.
Qureshi was jailed on Friday (Oct 2) and will be eligible for release after eight months.
In a victim personal statement read to the court, the woman said: “Qureshi was supposed to help me learn but he abused me. I was in care and he took advantage of me.”
She added: “He knew what he was doing, he was the adult in the situation.”
Detective Inspector Majahid Ashruff, of West Yorkshire Police, described the offending as a “serious breach of trust” and said Qureshi had exploited his position of responsibility to groom and sexually abuse a vulnerable young person.