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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5. Sageer Hussain: Jailed for extra three years in November 2025
A man who raped a girl in Rotherham around 25 years ago was jailed on November 11, 2025 at Sheffield Crown Court. Sageer Hussain, then 40, who is already serving a 19-year-jail sentence for raping a girl, was sentenced to a further three years in prison for raping a second girl, following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). Hussain and the girl were both aged about 14 at the time. The girl used to see Hussain around Rotherham town centre. On an occasion between 2000 and 2002, Hussain led the girl down an alleyway, where he told her he would not let her back out unless she had sex with him. She refused but he raped her. Officers from Operation Stovewood - the NCA’s investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham, which commenced in 2014 – contacted the victim after identifying she may have been sexually abused as a child. The woman told officers what Hussain had done to her, and the officers conducted follow up in enquiries in which they identified supporting evidence. Operation Stovewood investigators subsequently arrested Hussain, then charged him in February 2024. Hussain was already in prison at the time, serving a 19-year sentence for rape and other sexual offences identified in a separate South Yorkshire Police investigation. Hussain was found guilty on 23 July 2025, following a trial in which two co-defendants were also convicted of raping a different girl. The sentence Hussain received in November 2025 will run consecutive to his current sentence. | NCA
6. Obaidullah Omari: Jailed for 19 years in September 2025
A man who groomed and raped two young girls in Rotherham in the early 2000s was jailed for 19 years during a hearing held on September 4, 2025. A trial at Sheffield Crown Court heard how Obaidullah Omari, 46, from Sheffield, targeted the two, who were aged between 13 and 14 at the time of their abuse. The offences, which occurred between 2003 and 2004, were investigated by officers from the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, which is looking into child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Omari, in his 20s at the time, gave the girls alcohol and drugs before abusing them. Omari raped the first girl multiple times at two different locations – his house in Eastwood and in his car – and raped the second girl on one occasion. Both victims came forward to Operation Stovewood more than 20 years after the abuse took place, providing their accounts to officers who then went on to arrest Omari in 2019. Following a two-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, Omari was found guilty of three counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. | NCA
7. Paul Richardson: Jailed for 15 years in August 2025
A man who groomed and then repeatedly raped a schoolgirl 20 years ago has been jailed for 15 years for five sexual offences. Paul Richardson, 63, of Rotherham abused the 15-year-old at hotels in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire after grooming her. He was jailed for 15 years during a hearing held on August 21, 2025. When the girl was 14, Richardson began giving her love letters, presents and alcohol. Sometimes he took her out on day trips. In 2005, when Richardson was 42 and the girl was 15, he took her to a cinema, then on to a hotel near Worksop, Nottinghamshire. At the hotel, Richardson gave the girl wine to drink. He then began kissing her. In interviews with National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators, the victim, now in her 30s, said she repeatedly told Richardson she didn’t want him to kiss her, but Richardson continued and then raped her. In the months that followed, Richardson raped the girl a further three times. He took her to a hotel in Rotherham where he attempted to rape the girl, and then later did rape her. On another occasion – across a two-day period – he raped the girl twice at a house in Nottinghamshire. The victim related how Richardson picked her up in his car – sometimes from school - and took her to places where she was then alone with him. Whenever the victim told Richardson she did not want to have sex, he overpowered or manipulated her. A trial at Sheffield Crown Court in July 2025 heard how Richardson knew the girl had a chaotic home life and set about making her feel dependent upon him for stability, so that she would not report the abuse. He threatened that if she told anyone about them she would lose him and have no one. | NCA
8. Amer Khan: Jailed for six years, six months in July 2025
A man who raped a woman more than 20 years ago has been jailed for six and a half years. The woman was in her early 20s when she met Amer Khan of Rotherham in 2002. After they had known each other for around a year, Khan – also in his early 20s at the time – became verbally and physically abusive, the woman told NCA officers. She related how Khan would sometimes pinch, slap and punch her. Khan’s violence escalated after he pressured the woman to have sex with him during a picnic one day. The woman refused and, fearing what Khan would do, she tried to run away, however Khan caught then raped her. The victim recounted to officers her distress during and after the incident. She recalled crying at the time and Khan blaming her for what he had done. Officers from Operation Stovewood - the NCA’s enquiry into historic allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham – began an investigation in 2022 after they identified the woman was a victim of rape in the course of separate enquiries. They charged Khan in February 2024. Khan was found guilty of one count of rape at Sheffield Crown Court on July 10, 2025, after which the judge immediately sentenced him. Once released from prison, Khan, aged 42 at the time of his conviction, must sign the sex offenders’ register | NCA