Grooming gang of 7 found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting two under-16 girls

Seven men have been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting two teenage girls in Rotherham in the early 2000s.

The girls, aged between 11 and 16 at the time, were groomed and often plied with alcohol or cannabis before being raped or sexually assaulted, the National Crime Agency said. 

The girls would often be collected by their abusers from their childhood homes and attacks took place in locations around Rotherham, including a park, a cemetery, and even behind a children’s nursery.

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 locked inside one of her abusers’ homes where she was raped on at least two occasions before escaping by climbing out of a window.

It comes as part of Operation Stovewood, the NCA’s huge investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.  Offences in this case involved ‘some of the most serious yet investigated’ by police officers, the NCA confirmed.

The seven men were found guilty of a series of offences on Wednesday following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

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

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

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

Mohammed Siyab, 44, of Stevenson Drive, Rotherham, was found guilty of two counts of rape, sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 years and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.

Abid Saddiq, 43, formerly of Rotherham, was found guilty of three counts of rape, including one of a girl under 13, and indecently assaulting 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 investigation into child abuse.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Stuart Cobb said on Wednesday: ‘The evidence we heard from these victims was some of the most harrowing we have come across, and the offences involved some of the most serious yet investigated by officers working on Operation Stovewood.

‘I pay tribute to the bravery of these two victims in coming forward and telling their stories. It was key to getting these convictions and I hope they feel that justice has finally been done.

‘What happened to them was appalling. Their attackers were cruel, manipulative men, who thought it was fine to take advantage of vulnerable young girls and dehumanise their victims in the worst possible ways.’

Last Autumn, the NCA insisted ‘this does not mean we are walking away’ as it announced that, from January, new allegations would be handled by South Yorkshire Police rather than Operation Stovewood.

The agency said it is ‘confident that we have done all we realistically can to identify those individuals who may have been victims’, saying it has identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation between 1997 and 2013 — almost all girls.

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

The NCA said Operation Stovewood has seen more than 200 arrests and Wednesday’s verdicts mean 33 convictions have been secured.

The agency said it remains committed to seeing its current investigations through to the end of the criminal justice process, which is anticipated to continue into 2027.