Rotherham Rapist to Be Released in February 2027 After Nine-Year Sentence

Elizabeth Harper said she fears the February 2027 release of Ashgar Bostan, the taxi driver convicted of raping her as a teenager in Rotherham. GB News reported that Bostan received a nine-year sentence in 2018 following a National Crime Agency investigation into the assault in a flat in the South Yorkshire town. Harper stated at sentencing that the abuse had destroyed her childhood.

She added that she often wonders what her life would have been like if she had finished her education and become a teacher. Bostan spent two years in a closed prison before transfer to an open facility, a move Harper said she was not informed about. Bostan was released in August 2022 but recalled to prison in January 2024 after breaching licence conditions.

Two parole decisions have kept him incarcerated until the end of his sentence. Parole Board notes seen by GB News stated that Bostan had limited understanding of the risk he poses to the public and children and had not completed any accredited programmes to address his sexual offending.

The notes also recorded that Bostan has maintained his innocence, which officials noted is not a barrier to release.

Harper said she is waiting anxiously for the release of a man who abused her as a child and has made no effort to admit what he did. She added that his licence conditions will expire upon release despite his lack of remorse. Harper said she will rely on a restraining order for protection after February 2027.

Solicitor David Greenwood told GB News that the case illustrates the inadequacy of the criminal justice system to prevent reoffending by sex criminals and called for a new class of licence condition to allow recall at the end of sentences. Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said child rapists who show no remorse have no business being released and that the Conservatives would abolish the Sentencing Council to ensure longer sentences.