WIREDGOV

Officers from the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood have charged a man from Sheffield with 17 offences relating to the abuse of four teenage girls in the 1990s.

The 57-year-old will appear before Sheffield Magistrates on 22 June charged with rape, indecent assault, false imprisonment, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. 

The offences were alleged to have been committed between 1996 and 1999 against four female victims, who were aged between 15 and 19 years old at the time.   

Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK, with more than 200 officers involved.

There are currently more than 40 separate investigations running under the Stovewood umbrella.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Philip Marshall said:

“We remain focused on seeking justice for and providing support to victims, who remain our first priority.

“Our investigations in Rotherham continue, and I’d urge anyone who believes they may have been a victim between 1997 and 2013, or who might have information that might assist us, to contact us.”

Contact details for the Operation Stovewood team can be found on the NCA website www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/stovewood.