Two brothers have been found guilty of raping teenage girls almost two decades ago, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Mark Evans, 36, and Robert Evans, 40, abused children in Rotherham, Yorkshire, over a two-year period, starting in 2006 when the defendants were about 18 and 21 years old, respectively.

The siblings denied the offences but a jury convicted them of two counts of rape each after a two-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, with Mark Evans also found guilty of sexual activity with a child and assault by penetration.

They were cleared of one count of sexual assault each.

Mark Evans, of Wharncliffe Hill; and Robert Evans, of Thompson Close; both Rotherham, were arrested in August 2020 after officers from the NCA’s Operation Stovewood – which examines historic sexual abuse in Rotherham – investigated allegations made by three female victims.

According to the NCA, the court heard that the brothers intimidated girls and plied them with drugs and alcohol before luring them to locations where they attacked them.

Two of the women told officers they were raped by both brothers.

One of them, who was 13 at the time, was given alcohol by Mark Evans before she and some friends went with him to a disused barn where he separated her from the rest of the group and raped her.

The same victim was attacked by Robert Evans months later when he lured her to a house in Rotherham by lying that one of her friends would be there, plying her with alcohol en route, and raping her when they got there.

“She recalled he seemed amused by this,” the NCA said.

Another woman said Mark Evans walked her home one evening when she was 14 and raped her as they passed through an alleyway.

She was later lured by Robert Evans to a house where he forced her into a bathroom and raped her.

The third victim was 13 when Mark Evans began “grooming” her by giving her alcohol and drugs and calling her his girlfriend.

She told officers that Mark Evans visited her at home and asked for sex, to which she complied out of fear that she would be dumped, the NCA said.

Mark Evans took her into an alleyway to have sex with her.

NCA senior investigator Kim Boreham said: “Our investigation uncovered the extent to which the Evans brothers used manipulation to lure young girls away from safety, into places where they were at the men’s mercy.

“The victims bravely described how the brothers abused them in the worst ways, showing no remorse afterwards.

“It was extremely difficult for the victims to re-live the abuse but with their courageous testimonies we were able to investigate the brothers’ crimes and ensure they faced justice.”

While the men were awaiting trial, NCA officers arrested and charged their sister, Ann Marie Evans, 29, of Barnsley, under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, after she published social media posts identifying two of her brothers’ victims.

All victims of sexual offences are by law granted automatic life-long anonymity.

Ms Evans was convicted and sentenced last year and her brothers will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on January 16.

mug shot of Waleed Ali
Waleed Ali was jailed after Operation Stovewood uncovered his crimes (National Crime Agency/PA)

Operation Stovewood was set up in the wake of the landmark Jay Report which found in 2014 that at least 1,400 girls were abused by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

Dozens of people have been convicted as a result of the operation, including Waleed Ali, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, who was jailed in September for five years after he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in a Rotherham alleyway 21 years ago.

The NCA said anyone who has been sexually abused as a child can report to police by calling 101 or visiting a police station.