Five arrested by NCA officers over Rotherham abuse allegations

The offences are alleged to have taken place around 20 years ago, when the girls were aged between 11 and 16.

National Crime Agency officers (NCA), working as part of Operation Stovewood, made the arrests over the course of three days, which started on Tuesday this week.

Four of those men detained live in Rotherham, and the other is from Leeds. All were aged between 38 and 50.

The men were questioned and then released while investigations continue.

Philip Marshall, senior investigating officer for Operation Stovewood, said: “Our priority in all these investigations is to support the victims, and I would urge anyone who was the victim of child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 to come speak to us in the strictest of confidence. We will do all we can to support you”

“Operations like those that have taken place this week demonstrate that we, together with partners in South Yorkshire, are determined to bring offenders to justice, and more arrests are to come.”

Victims or witnesses who might have information to help investigations can find contact details on the Stovewood pages of the National Crime Agency’s website via www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/Stovewood.

Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual abuse (CSA) in the UK.

So far, 134 people have been arrested, with 20 convicted and sentenced to jail terms totaling 248 years.