A court in Britain has sentenced mathematics teacher Syed Shahrear Ahmed to 25 years in prison and a further eight years on licence after finding him guilty of sexually abusing 18 teenage girls. The 37-year-old was convicted of 56 offences involving the sexual abuse of minors.
Ahmed, who taught mathematics at a secondary school in Essex, used fake identities on Wizz, Yubo and Snapchat over four years. Through these profiles, he posed as a 17-year-old boy named “Miles”.
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The Daily Mail reports that manipulated photographs helped convince the girls, some as young as 13, that they were communicating with someone their own age.
The court heard that he targeted girls aged 13 to 16, exploiting their loneliness and insecurities. With promises of money, gifts and romantic relationships, Ahmed persuaded them to meet him.
He travelled to these meetings and, in some cases, arranged to meet several girls on the same day. To avoid detection, he changed the meeting place at the last minute and watched the girls from a distance to check whether they had come alone.
He was arrested in May 2023 after a 15-year-old girl managed to get out of his car while it was moving. The teenager gave police the vehicle’s registration number. When questioned, Ahmed replied, “No comment,” and refused to hand over the passwords to his devices.
The Metropolitan Police investigation involved examining a large volume of digital evidence and thousands of photographs.
To identify one of the places where a victim had been taken, investigators relied on the few details the girl remembered about a secluded wooded area. These included signs beneath the A12 motorway, which police spotted using Google Street View, allowing them to find the location.
Officers also found photographs of another 20 to 30 girls on Ahmed’s phone. Their identities remain unknown.
The detective who investigated the case said the images showed girls in Ahmed’s car, in a wooded area or at an address still unknown to police. He said they appeared to be 16 or younger, but investigators had no way of establishing who they were.
During the court hearing, accounts were read describing the severe psychological harm the girls had suffered. One described nightmares and a loss of trust in people, while another said she had left school and was struggling with sleep and work.
Judge Perins concluded that Ahmed remains a danger to society. Addressing him, the judge said he had accepted no responsibility and shown no remorse. He added that Ahmed understood teenage girls well and knew how to identify those whose insecurities he could exploit to manipulate them.
A mother who helped bring the case to light urged parents to pay attention to whom their children communicate with and which apps they have on their phones.
