Operation Stovewood was launched in the wake of the Alexis Jay report, which was published in 2014 and described how at least 1,400 children in Rotherham had been subjected to grooming and abuse by gangs of men between 1997 and 2013. It also outlined how police and social workers had failed to step in.
It is a National Crime Agency operation, and is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual abuse in the UK.
Over 200 arrests have been made since the operation was launched.
*If you are concerned about a child and believe they are being exploited, please report it to South Yorkshire Police so they can help.
You can get in touch with them by calling 101, or going online and using the force's chat function or online portal at: https://smartcontact.southyorkshire.police.uk/
Call 999 if they are in immediate danger.
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37. Zaheer Iqbal: Seven-and-a-half years behind bars for child abuser
In November 2017, Zaheer Iqbal was convicted of multiple child sex offences as part of the first Operation Stovewood trial which was held at Sheffield Crown Court. Judge David Dixon jailed Iqbal, then aged 40, for seven-and-a-half years after jurors found him guilty of five counts of indecent assault. He was was convicted and jailed alongside Sajid Ali, then aged 38, who also received a seven-and-a-half year sentence and Riaz Makhmood, then aged 39, who was jailed for six years, nine months Between them, the three defendants were found unanimously guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault. The court was told how all three men groomed a 'vulnerable' girl, aged between 12 and 13-years-old, before sexually abusing her in the Masbrough area of Rotherham for a period of a year during the mid-1990s. Ali, Makhmood and Iqbal would ply the girl with cigarettes and alcohol so she felt she owed them something, and threatened to tell her mother she was a 'slag' if she did not do what they wanted Judge Dixon told them: "Each of you in your own way perpetuated and facilitated the abuse of a vulnerable, young girl," adding: "Like many, she simply wanted to be liked and you preyed on that." He continued: "The memories haunt her." | Submit
38. Riaz Makhmood: Jailed for six years, nine months in November 2017
In November 2017, Riaz Makhmood was convicted of multiple child sex offences as part of the first Operation Stovewood trial which was held at Sheffield Crown Court. Judge David Dixon jailed Makhmood, then aged 39, for six years, nine months after jurors found him guilty of seven counts of indecent assault. He was was convicted and jailed alongside Sajid Ali, then aged 38, and Zaheer Iqbal, then aged 40, both of whom were sentenced to seven-and-a-half-years behind bars. Between them, the three defendants were found unanimously guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault. The court was told how all three men groomed a 'vulnerable' girl, aged between 12 and 13-years-old, before sexually abusing her in the Masbrough area of Rotherham for a period of a year during the mid-1990s. Ali, Makhmood and Iqbal would ply the girl with cigarettes and alcohol so she felt she owed them something, and threatened to tell her mother she was a 'slag' if she did not do what they wanted Judge Dixon told them: "Each of you in your own way perpetuated and facilitated the abuse of a vulnerable, young girl," adding: "Like many, she simply wanted to be liked and you preyed on that." He continued: "The memories haunt her." | Submit