Brothers who raped girls as young as 13 jailed

Two brothers who groomed and raped vulnerable girls as young as 13 in Rotherham have been jailed.

Mark Evans, 37, and Robert Evans, 40, carried out the abuse over a two-year period, starting in 2006, when they were about 18 and 21 years old.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the brothers would intimidate their victims, ply them with drugs and alcohol and lure them to locations where they attacked them.

On Friday, Robert Evans, of Thompson Close, was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment while Mark Evans, of Wharncliffe Hill, was handed a 14-year sentence.

The pair, who had denied the offending, were found guilty of raping two girls, and Mark Evans was also convicted of a sexual offence against a third teenager.

The court heard that two of the victims had been plied with alcohol by the brothers on separate occasions before they were lured to different locations, including a barn and an alleyway, where they were raped.

In statements read out to the court, the women detailed the impact the abuse had on them.

One of them said she still suffered from severe panic attacks and recalled how she collapsed when she saw one of the brothers in Rotherham years later.

Another woman said she had hoped to go to university but her life chances had been taken away "by these people who did these horrid things to me".

A third woman said: "They were predators. They didn't care about me.

"I was a commodity in their eyes, a sexual possession."

The brothers were arrested in August 2020 as part of Operation Stovewood, set up after the Jay Report found at least 1,400 girls were abused, trafficked and groomed by gangs of men in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

While the brothers were awaiting trial, NCA officers arrested and charged their sister, Ann Marie Evans, under the Sexual Offences Act, after she published social media posts identifying two of their victims.

The 29-year-old, of Goldthorpe, was handed a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Speaking after the sentencing on Friday, NCA senior investigator Kim Boreham said: "I would like to recognise the courage and strength of the three victims in this case.

"For almost 20 years these women have suffered the profound consequences of Mark and Robert Evans' crimes, while the two men continued their lives as normal."

Samantha Thompson, specialist prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the lifelong trauma caused by the brothers could not be understated.

"The Evans brothers targeted and groomed young girls including with alcohol and drugs, for child sexual abuse and rape," she said.

"This type of conduct has equally damaged the community confidence of Rotherham."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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