Seven “cruel and manipulative” men were recently jailed for sexually abusing girls in Rotherham

Seven men have been sentenced to prison for sexually abusing two girls in Rotherham, the latest convictions in the largest child sex abuse prosecution in UK history.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that the defendants regularly picked up the victims in their cars and gave them cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis and money.

The girls are then attacked, forced to perform sexual acts or raped.

One of the girls was taken to a hotel where she was raped by two men, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

On another occasion, the same girl was locked in the house of one of her tormentors, raped at least twice, and only managed to escape by climbing out of a window.

The seven men are the latest to be convicted in an investigation by the NCA's Operation Stovewood into abuse that took place in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The NCA said the case covered “some of the most serious crimes we have investigated under Operation Stovewood”.

The cruelest abuse there is

The agency said Mohammed Amar, Mohammed Siyab, Yasser Ajaibe, Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, Abid Saddiq, Tahir Yassin and Ramin Bari were detained on Thursday and Friday for crimes they committed between April 2003 and April 2008.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Amar, Ajaibe, Sadiq and Sayib abused one victim and Yassin and Bari abused the other victim.

Saddiq, who was already serving a 20-year prison sentence for sexual offences in Rotherham in 2019, had abused both girls.

The two victims were aged 11 and 15 when the crimes began, the CPS said, and both had been in care facilities for some time.

Stuart Cobb, NCA senior investigator, said: “These men were cruel and manipulative. They groomed their victims and then exploited them, subjecting them to the most cruel abuse possible.”

“They were responsible for some of the worst crimes we investigated as part of Operation Stovewood.

“I can only once again pay tribute to the victims who had the courage to come forward, tell their stories and stand up to their tormentors.”

Zoe Becker of the CPS said: “These seven men deliberately preyed on two young girls who they knew were vulnerable and exploited them using drugs and alcohol for their own sexual gratification.”

Courage and steadfastness

“The cruelty and abuse the victims suffered at the hands of these defendants was horrific and continues to have a lasting impact on their lives to this day.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank both victims for coming forward and providing evidence. This was a complex and difficult case and it is thanks to their courage and fortitude that we have been able to bring these perpetrators to justice.”

Operation Stovewood was launched in the wake of the groundbreaking Jay Report, which found in 2014 that at least 1,400 girls in Rotherham were abused by gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani origin, between 1997 and 2013.

The operation has so far resulted in 36 convictions, making it the largest prosecution operation of its kind ever conducted in the UK, according to the NCA.

Last year, the NCA announced that new allegations would be handled by South Yorkshire Police rather than Operation Stovewood, saying it had identified more than 1,100 children involved in exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all of them girls.

The agency said it remains committed to conducting its ongoing investigations until the end of the criminal proceedings, which are expected to last until 2027.

Previous estimates put the cost of Operation Stovewood at around £90 million.