Seven accused of sexually abusing Rotherham girls

Seven men have been found guilty of a series of sexual offenses against two teenage girls in Rotherham, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has confirmed.

The girls were aged between 11 and 16 at the time of the crimes in the early 2000s, when they were groomed and often drugged with alcohol or cannabis before being raped or sexually assaulted, the agency said.

The NCA said the evidence in the case “was some of the most appalling we have come across” and that the offenses involved “some of the worst yet investigated” by officers working on Operation Stovewood – the agency’s huge investigation on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The girls were said to often be collected by their abusers from the children’s homes they were living in at the time.

The attacks took place in locations around Rotherham, including a park, a car in a supermarket car park, a cemetery and even behind a children’s nursery.

The NCA said the jury was told how 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.

The men were found guilty of a number of offenses on Wednesday following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, the agency said. Are:

Mohammed Amar, 42, of Elizabeth Way, Rotherham, who was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Yasser Ajaibe, 39, of Walter Street, Rotherham, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, 49, of Richard Road, Rotherham, who was found guilty of rape and sexual intercourse with a girl under 13.

Mohammed Siyab, 44, of Stevenson Drive, Rotherham, was found guilty of two counts of rape, having sex with a girl under 13 and trafficking into the UK for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Abid Saddiq, 43, formerly of Rotherham, was found guilty of three counts of rape, including one of a girl under 13, and indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl.

Tahir Yasin, 38, of Burngreave Street, Sheffield, was found guilty of eight counts of rape.

Ramin Bari, 37, of Derby Street, Sheffield, was found guilty of four counts of rape.

They will be sentenced on September 12 and 13 at the same court.

The prosecution follows a five-year investigation by officers from the NCA’s Operation Stovewood, which is the UK’s biggest child abuse investigation.

It was set up in the wake of the Jay Report, which sent shockwaves across the country in 2014 when it found that at least 1,400 girls had been abused, trafficked and groomed by gangs of mainly Pakistani men in the city between 1997 and 2013. .

The report by Professor Alexis Jay – who is now chairing the independent inquiry into child sex abuse – prompted a series of resignations and further inquiries after it highlighted how the police, social workers and other agencies did little to tackle the problem.

NCA senior investigating officer Stuart Cobb said on Wednesday: “The evidence we heard from these victims was some of the most horrific 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 the key to getting these convictions and I hope they feel that justice has finally been served.

“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.”

Last autumn, the NCA insisted that “this does not mean we are going away” as it announced that, from January, new allegations would be dealt with by South Yorkshire Police and not by Operation Stovewood.

The agency said it was “confident that we have done everything realistically possible to identify those individuals who may have been victims”, saying it had identified more than 1,100 children involved in exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all of them girls.

More than 1,150 victims have now been identified and more than 300 suspects named.

The NCA said Operation Stovewood had made more than 200 arrests and Wednesday’s verdicts meant 33 convictions had been obtained.

The agency said it remains committed to supporting its current investigations until the end of the criminal justice process, which is expected to continue into 2027.

Operation Stovewood was said to be the largest law enforcement operation of its kind ever undertaken in the UK and at its peak had a staff of over 200.

Previous estimates put the cost of the Stovewood operation at around £90m.

Zoe Becker, legal manager for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “These defendants waged a campaign of violence against the two girls, who had to endure some of the most traumatic abuse on a number of occasions.”

Ms Becker added: “This is the biggest case prosecuted under Operation Stovewood this year. I hope this conviction sends a clear message that the CPS, working alongside law enforcement, will relentlessly pursue justice and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, wherever that abuse has taken place.”