Rotherham councillor accused of rape

A victim in the Rotherham grooming trial told police she was raped by an influential politician linked to three brothers jailed yesterday for a campaign of child abuse in the town which a judge called “violent and degrading”.

Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain were sentenced to a total of 79 years in prison. They were said to have ruled Rotherham for a decade until their grooming, pimping and trafficking of girls was exposed by The Times.

Jahangir Akhtar, a relative of the trio, is the former Labour deputy leader of Rotherham council and the former vice-chairman of South Yorkshire police and crime panel. He resigned in 2013 after The Times revealed his role in a deal under which Arshid Hussain agreed to return a missing child to police at a petrol station after receiving an assurance that he would not be prosecuted. The petrol…