Two brothers who raped teenage girls as young as 13 have been jailed for 31 years following a National Crime Agency investigation
Mark Evans, 37, and Robert Evans, 40, abused children in Rotherham over a two-year period starting in 2006.
The men, aged 18 and 21 around the time, intimidated girls and plied them with drugs and alcohol before luring them to locations where they attacked them, the National Crime Agency said.
The brothers were arrested in August 2020 after officers from the NCAโs Operation Stovewood, examining historic sexual abuse in Rotherham, investigated allegations made by three victims.
Two of the women subsequently told specialist investigators they were raped by both brothers.
One of them was 13 at the time. She was given alcohol by Mark Evans before she and some friends accompanied him to a disused barn. He then separated her from her friends and raped her.
The same woman was attacked by Robert Evans several months later, when he lured the girl to a house in Rotherham by lying that one of her friends would be there.
Robert Evans plied her with alcohol as they took a bus to the house. Once Evans had the victim alone at the house, he raped her. She recalled he seemed amused by this.
Another woman described how she too was raped by both brothers when she was 14. She knew the men because they spent time with other girls her age.
She recounted how Mark Evans walked her home one evening because it was dark, but as they passed through an alleyway he raped her.
She and the first victim were later lured by Robert Evans to a house, on a separate occasion to when the first victim was attacked by him. At the house, Robert Evans forced the second girl into a bathroom and raped her.
The third victim was age 13 when Mark Evans began grooming her by giving her alcohol and drugs, and calling her his โgirlfriendโ.
The victim told officers how Mark Evans visited her at her home and asked her for sex. Fearing Evans would dump her, the girl complied with his request, and he took her into an alleyway where he had sex with her.
Today (28 March) at Sheffield Crown Court the brothers were sentenced to 14 and 17 yearsโ imprisonment respectively for their crimes. Mark Evans was jailed for 14 years. Robert Evans was given a 17-year sentence.
Speaking after the sentencing, NCA Senior Investigator Kim Boreham said: โI would like to recognise the courage and strength of the three victims in this case. For almost twenty years these women have suffered the profound consequences of Mark and Robert Evansโ crimes, while the two men continued their lives as normal.
โI encourage anyone who was sexually abused as a child, no matter how long ago, to report it to police. Every victim deserves justice.โ
Samantha Thompson, Specialist Prosecutor, of the Crown Prosecution Service said: โThe Evans brothers targeted and groomed young girls including with alcohol and drugs, for child sexual abuse and rape.
โThe lifelong physical and emotional trauma caused to victims by men like the Evans brothers cannot be understated. This type of conduct has equally damaged the community confidence of Rotherham.
โWe would like to thank the victims in this case for coming forward and reporting this devastating crime. I hope this conviction sends a clear message that the CPS will continue to relentlessly pursue justice and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, whenever that abuse took place.
โI encourage any victims of child sexual abuse and sexual violence to report the crimes committed against them to the police. You are not alone and there is always help available.โ
