Seventh man charged with child sex offences by NCA

A MAN has been charged with 21 child sex offences as part of the ongoing investigation into historic abuse in Rotherham.

Tony Chapman (41), of Lindley Street, Rotherham, has been charged by the National Crime Agency (NCA) with sexually abusing three girls, one aged 16 and two under the age of 16, between 1998 and 2015.

Chapman faces seven charges of rape, 12 charges of indecent assault, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of affray. 

He has been released on bail until his next hearing on July 18, 2017, at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court.

The NCA’s Operation Stovewood was set up in the wake of the Jay Report – published in 2014 – which said up to 1,400 children in Rotherham, mostly white girls, had been subject to exploitation and abuse mainly by men of Pakistani heritage.

Operation Stovewood is investigating non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham between 1997-2013 and although some of the charges relating to Chapman are outside of this time frame, the NCA said he has still been included in the prosecution

To date, a total of 15 men have been arrested and seven charged. 

The independent investigation currently has 71 designated suspects and is in the process of engaging with more than 190 victims and survivors.

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