Man groomed and raped girl in 'degrading' campaign

A man groomed and raped a teenager by plying her with drugs and alcohol in a "brutal and degrading" campaign of abuse.

David Fish, 46, from Rotherham, began grooming the girl when she was 15 and in care after approaching her in a park in 2007.

Sheffield Crown Court was told she was infatuated with Fish, who was then in his 20s, and was forced to take part in sexually explicit videos.

He will be sentenced for a number of sex offences including rape on 5 November.

Officers from Operation Stovewood, the National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into historic allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham, began an inquiry in 2018 after reviewing a report the victim had made to police.

She told investigators how Fish would turn violent and how he had smashed a mug against her head after he believed she had been flirting withy someone else.

The NCA said officers seized Fish’s computer and digital forensic specialists recovered graphic sexual images of the victim as a child, which Fish had taken and kept.

Fish, of Russell Road, Kilnhurst, pleaded guilty to two sexual offences and was found guilty of rape and a count of unlawful wounding.

He was found not guilty of two counts of rape.

The NCA's Stuart Cobb said officers gathered evidence "which corroborated the victim’s account of Fish’s brutal and degrading crimes against her".

Jeanette Smith, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said the victim had suffered a "cruel campaign of abuse and violence".

“The way he used threats and violence to then control the victim and enforce his demands for sex was completely despicable," she added.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here