He was facing prosecution over the sexual abuse and rape of children.
He was granted bail, allowed to keep his passport and allowed to leave the UK to travel to Pakistan. Of course he never returned for his trial.
Now Amar Ilyas has been convicted of 20 sexual offences against five girls and sentenced in his absence to a minimum of 27 years behind bars — while the women he abused are still waiting for him to be brought to justice.
Their question is stark: why was a man facing such serious charges allowed to keep the document that enabled him to leave the country?
Ilyas, 41, abused girls as young as 12 in the Meersbrook and Sharrow areas of Sheffield between 2004 and 2007.
Arrested in 2020 and charged in 2023 under the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood investigation, he was subsequently on court bail.
He retained his passport and had previously travelled abroad and returned. But after leaving for Pakistan in July 2025, he failed to come back for his September trial — despite a judge ordering him to return.
For his victims, the consequences are devastating.
One woman, who was sexually abused at 13, said she struggles to leave her own home. Her attacker, meanwhile, was able to leave the country.
“There is no justice is there really? He didn’t take accountability. He’s not getting any consequences for his actions,” she said.
She had assumed being charged would mean surrendering his passport.
“We were told that he got to keep his passport because of his human rights but he wasn’t humane towards other people.”
That is the victim’s account of what she was told. The material available does not establish the court’s precise reasons for allowing him to retain his passport.
But the outcome is clear: he was able to travel abroad while awaiting trial and has not returned to serve his sentence.
Another survivor, who had learning difficulties and described herself as deeply vulnerable when Ilyas abused her, demanded answers.
“Why, when he’s committed these offences against us girls, was he allowed to keep his passport? That’s my question. Where is the justice?”
A third woman, raped by Ilyas as a teenager, fears he may never be brought back.
“Shame on him but shame on the law too, they allowed that to happen.”
His younger brothers are already behind bars for sexual offences against one victim.
Kamar Ilyas, 40, received 10 years, while Kamran Ilyas, 39, was sentenced to three years.
The government says bail restrictions are decisions for the independent judiciary. The NCA says it is making every effort to bring Amar Ilyas before the court.
For the women he abused, a conviction has still not delivered what they have waited years to see: their attacker behind bars.