A man who sexually abused a vulnerable teenage boy 14 years ago has been jailed after admitting a string of child sex offences. Zana Adil Mohammed, 48, from Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child and four counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child.
At Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, Mohammed was sentenced to five years and two months in prison for offences committed in Huddersfield in December 2011. The victim, a young teenage boy at the time, came forward to report what had happened, prompting an investigation by West Yorkshire Police.
According to police, Mohammed fled to Iraq during the early stages of the case. He was later arrested when he returned to the UK in October last year, after officers learned he was planning to come back and detained him at Birmingham International Airport.
Det Con Leanne Sanderson of the Kirklees Child Safeguarding Unit said Mohammed “clearly poses a significant risk” to young men. She said the offences had a deep impact on the victim and thanked him for his bravery in reporting the abuse and supporting the investigation.
Sanderson added that it takes a great deal of courage to disclose such abuse and hoped the sentence would give the victim some measure of closure. She also urged anyone who has suffered unreported sexual abuse, no matter when it happened, to come forward.
