42-year-old man jailed for raping 14-year-old girl in back alley 21 years ago The latest case was brought by detectives investigating Rotherham grooming gangs.

A 42-year-old man has been sentenced to five years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in an alley in Rotherham 21 years ago.

Waleed Ali, from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, was sentenced immediately after a jury found him guilty of raping a girl under the age of 16 at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

He had previously been convicted of raping and indecently abusing another 13-year-old girl in the same alley in early 2003 following an investigation by South Yorkshire Police.

His latest conviction was the result of the NCA’s Operation Stovewood investigation into historic abuse allegations in Rotherham, Yorkshire, between 1997 and 2013 – the largest investigation into child sexual exploitation in the UK – which this week sentenced seven men to a total of 106 years in prison.

Ali was arrested and questioned in September 2021 after a woman told Operation Stovewood officers that she had been assaulted when she was 14 and had not previously reported it.

Ali was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court (see picture) immediately after the jury found him guilty of raping a girl under the age of 16 on Friday

Ali was in his early 20s and living in Rotherham when he found the victim sitting alone at a fountain and forced her into a nearby alley to rape her “out of public view” (symbolic image above).

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

He approached the girl with a group of men and demanded that she go with him to a nearby alley. When she refused, Ali grabbed her arm and tried to get her to stand up.

The girl was “intimidated” by the men and went into the dark alley where Ali raped her “away from the public eye”.

During questioning in 2021, he told officers that their questions made him “sick” and denied the crime.

Lead investigator Stuart Cobb said: “After speaking with the victim, National Crime Agency officers carefully searched for corroborating evidence.”

“The victim suffered in silence for 21 years, but her brave testimony combined with our investigative work ensured that her attacker was brought to justice.”

“I urge all victims of child sexual abuse to seek help – regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred – and, if they feel ready, to report the incident to the police. The police have officers specially trained to investigate such cases.”

On Thursday and Friday, seven men were sentenced to prison as part of Operation Stovewood for sexually abusing two young girls in Rotherham in the 2000s, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reported.

The abuse began when one of the girls was just 11 years old. Sheffield Crown Court heard how the defendants regularly gave the victims rides in their cars and gave them cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis and money.

The girls are then attacked, forced to perform sexual acts or raped.

Operation Stovewood was launched in the wake of the groundbreaking Jay Report, which found in 2014 that at least 1,400 girls in Rotherham were abused by gangs of men, predominantly of Pakistani origin, between 1997 and 2013.

Ali’s conviction came as a result of Operation Stovewood, in which seven men (pictured) were sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison this week. Top row (from left): Abid Saddiq, Mohammed Amar, Mohammed Siyab, Mohammed Zameer Sadiq. Bottom row (from left): Ramin Bari, Tahir Yassin, Yasser Ajaibe

Dozens of people were convicted as a result of the operation, which the NCA says is the largest prosecution operation of its kind ever conducted 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 exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all of them girls.

The agency said it remains committed to conducting its ongoing investigations until the end of the criminal proceedings, which are expected to last until 2027.

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

According to the NCA, anyone who was sexually abused as a child can report it to the police by calling 101 or visiting a police station.