Trial date set for three men charged with rape of teenagers in Rotherham

Basharat Dad, 40, Nasser Dad, 44, and Reza Tavakoli, 54, were arrested as part of the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Operation Stovewood, which is investigating child sexual exploitation in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013.

The trio were due to enter pleas at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday but this did not happen after there were problems producing Basharat Dad and Nasser Dad from prison.

Judge Sarah Wright fixed a provisional trial date for November 30 2026, after hearing there was no sooner slot available because of the current backlog of cases in crown courts.

But Judge Wright said she would be making further inquiries to see if the trial could be brought forward.

The NCA said the alleged offences happened in the Rotherham area between March 2004 and December 2009 and involved two female victims who were aged between 13 and 16 at the time.

Basharat Dad, formerly of Rotherham, is charged with 13 counts of rape, four offences of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, and one offence of false imprisonment.

Nasser Dad, also formerly of Rotherham, is charged with two counts of rape.

Tavakoli, of Upperthorpe, Sheffield, is charged with one offence of rape and one of false imprisonment.

Basharat Dad and Nasser Dad are in custody. Tavakoli was bailed by Judge Wright when he appeared in court on Monday morning. The defendants will appear again for a case management hearing on March 24.

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.

The NCA says Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement operation of its kind undertaken in the UK and has identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all girls.

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