Three Survivors Speak Out After Serial Rapist Flees to Pakistan While on Bail

Three women who were sexually abused by a serial rapist have spoken of their feelings of betrayal and frustration after learning their attacker was able to leave the UK for Pakistan while awaiting trial. Amar Ilyas, 41, was convicted of 20 sexual offences involving five girls in Sheffield and was later sentenced in his absence to a minimum of 27 years behind bars.

One of his victims told the BBC she had always assumed that a passport would be automatically surrendered once a person was charged with such serious crimes. Instead, she said, she was left deeply disappointed with the legal system that permitted him to retain his travel documents and ultimately leave the country before he could face justice in person.

The case has raised difficult questions about how bail conditions are set and monitored in England and Wales, particularly when defendants face allegations of grave sexual violence. According to the source material, Ilyas was arrested in 2020 and formally charged in 2023 as part of the National Crime Agency's Operation Stovewood, a long-running investigation into historical sexual abuse in South Yorkshire.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that his offences were carried out against girls as young as 12 in the Meersbrook and Sharrow areas of Sheffield between 2004 and 2007. The BBC understands that he was allowed to keep his passport after appearing in court, and that he had previously travelled abroad while on court bail, although on those earlier occasions he did return to the UK.

That changed in July 2025, when he travelled to Pakistan. He did not come back for his trial in September of that year, even though the judge had ordered him to fly back to the UK to face proceedings. His absence meant that the trial went ahead without him, and he was sentenced in his absence to a minimum term of 27 years.

One woman, who was 13 when she was abused by Ilyas, described feeling cheated by the outcome. She explained that she had effectively been confined to her home, unable to go out freely, while her abuser had been able to leave the country. In her view, there is no real justice because he has taken no accountability and is facing no consequences for what he did.

She also recalled being told that he had been permitted to keep his passport because of his human rights. She said that felt like a profound insult, arguing that he had shown no humanity, empathy or concern for the people he harmed, yet his own rights and feelings appeared to have been taken into consideration.

A second woman said she had learning difficulties and was in an extremely vulnerable and dark place when Ilyas abused her as a teenager. She questioned why a man who had committed such offences against young girls was allowed to retain his passport at all, and she asked where the justice was in a system that had enabled him to flee.

Despite her anger, she said she continues to hold on to hope that he will eventually be found, telling the BBC that it could be tomorrow or next year, but that survivors have to keep hoping. A third woman, who was raped by Ilyas as a teenager, said she did not hold out much hope that he would return to the UK to serve his sentence.

She said she knew he was in Pakistan and that authorities were doing what they could, but she had been told extradition from Pakistan is very difficult. She placed blame not only on him but also on the law itself, saying the system had allowed the situation to happen. All three women have the right to lifelong anonymity.

The women said they decided to speak to the BBC in order to call for changes that would prevent sex offenders from absconding during court proceedings. One of them argued that passports should be removed in such cases going forward, adding that these crimes continue to happen and that survivors may be discouraged from coming forward when they hear about cases like this.

Judge Peter Hampton, who sentenced all three Ilyas brothers in June, described Amar Ilyas as having taken the coward's route and fled. He urged law enforcement to locate him and to use all means available to execute the arrest warrant that remains outstanding. It is understood that when the defence team applied for bail, which the prosecution had the opportunity to contest, no request was made for his passport to be forfeited.

Phillip Marshall, who heads Operation Stovewood for the National Crime Agency, said officers were carrying out proactive enquiries. He said Ilyas had tormented and brutally sexually abused vulnerable young girls and women 20 years ago, and had callously compounded their decades of suffering by failing to return for his trial or sentencing. Marshall added that the investigation had ensured the women's accounts were heard, believed and proven in court despite the passage of time, the complexity of the case and the defendant's absence, and that the agency is just as determined to ensure Ilyas serves his prison sentence.

Lucy Duckworth from the Survivors Trust described the case as absolutely appalling. She said it demonstrated the need for specialist courts and for training in responding to sexual violence for staff working across the criminal justice system. She argued it makes no sense to treat a defendant as such a risk to society while simultaneously granting bail and allowing the freedom to potentially commit further crimes or evade justice.

The government, when approached, said decisions on bail restrictions are a matter for the independent judiciary. The National Crime Agency said it is making every effort to ensure Ilyas is brought before the court. Ilyas's younger brothers are both currently in prison for sexual offences against one victim. Kamar Ilyas, 40, was jailed for 10 years, while Kamran Ilyas, 39, was sentenced to three years.