Man jailed for raping girl, 14, in Rotherham alley 21 years ago, NCA says

A man has been jailed for five years after raping a 14-year-old girl in a Rotherham alleyway 21 years ago, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.

Waleed Ali, 42, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, was sentenced immediately after jurors found him guilty of raping a girl under 16 years old at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, the force said.

He had been convicted of raping and indecently assaulting another girl, 13, in the same alleyway in early 2003 following an investigation by South Yorkshire Police, the NCA added.

His latest conviction was a result of the NCA’s Operation Stovewood probe into historic allegations of abuse in Rotherham, Yorkshire, between 1997 and 2013 – the UK’s largest child sexual exploitation inquiry.

Ali was arrested and interviewed in September 2021 after a woman told Operation Stovewood officers that she had been attacked when she was 14 years old and had not reported it before.

Ali was in his early 20s and living in Rotherham when he spotted the victim sitting alone at a water fountain in the town centre one day between March 2003 and March 2004, the NCA said.

He and a group of men approached the girl and he asked her to go into a nearby alleyway with him, the force said, adding that when she refused Ali grabbed her by the arm and tried to force her to her feet.

The girl was “intimidated” by the men and went into the dark alleyway where Ali raped her “away from public sight”, according to the NCA.

During the 2021 interview he told officers that he felt “sick” at their questions and denied the crime.

Senior investigating officer, Stuart Cobb, said: “After speaking with the victim, National Crime Agency officers meticulously identified corroborating evidence.

“For 21 years the victim suffered in silence but her brave testimony combined with our investigative work has ensured her attacker faced justice.

“I urge anyone who is a victim of child sexual abuse, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred, to seek support and, if they feel ready, report it to the police, who have officers specially trained to investigate such cases.”

On Thursday and Friday, seven men were jailed for committing child sex abuse offences against two young girls in Rotherham during the 2000s as part of Operation Stovewood, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reported.

The abuse started when one of the girls was as young as 11 and Sheffield Crown Court heard how the defendants regularly picked up the victims in their cars and gave them cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis and money, the CPS said.

The girls would then be assaulted, forced to perform sexual acts or raped.

Operation Stovewood was set up in the wake of the landmark Jay Report which found in 2014 that at least 1,400 girls were abused by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

Dozens of people have been convicted as a result of the operation, which the NCA says is the single largest law enforcement operation of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.

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 the exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all girls.

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.

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

The NCA said anyone who has been sexually abused as a child can report to police by calling 101 or visiting a police station.