Rotherham: Seven men found guilty of sexually abusing two girls in care

Seven men have been found guilty of abusing two young girls in Rotherham, who were often collected from children’s homes where they lived and raped or sexually assaulted.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigated the case, said the evidence was “some of the most horrific” they had found.

The girls, aged between 11 and 16 at the time, were groomed and high on alcohol or drugs before being abused, the NCA added.

The men were found guilty following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Their case was part of Operation Stovewood, Britain’s biggest child abuse investigation.

Operation Stovewood was set up following the Jay Report, published in 2014, which found that at least 1,400 girls were abused, trafficked and groomed by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The NCA said that in this case the abuse took place in locations around the city, including a park, in a car in a supermarket car park, in a graveyard and even behind a children’s nursery.

The jury was told that one of the girls was taken to a hotel where she was raped by two men.

The same girl was also locked up in the homes of one of her abusers, where she was raped at least twice before escaping by climbing through a window.

They will be sentenced on September 12 and 13.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Stuart Cobb said: “The evidence we heard from these victims was some of the most harrowing we have come across and the offenses involved some of the worst ever investigated by officers working on Operation Stovewood.

“I pay tribute to the courage of these two victims who came forward and told their stories. It was instrumental in getting these convictions and I hope they feel that justice has finally been done.

“What happened to them was terrible. Their attackers were cruel, manipulative men who thought it was okay to take advantage of vulnerable young girls and dehumanize their victims in the worst possible ways.”