Sheffield judges sentenced them to a total of 259 years and seven months behind bars between them.
Some of these defendants acknowledged their wrongdoing through guilty pleas, and accordingly, got time off the length of their prison sentence.
Others sought to deny their crimes, and were convicted at the conclusion of their Sheffield Crown Court trials.
The shortest sentence passed down to the sex offenders included in this list is one of 34 months, while the longest sentence currently being served by these offenders is one of 20 years.
After serving their sentences, a number of these offenders will remain on the sex offenders’ register for a set period of time.
17. Kevin Cox: Jailed for 14 years
29-year-old Kevin Cox was deemed a high-risk sex offender after being convicted of offences relating to indecent images of children and voyeurism in 2019. As part of his sentence, Cox, of Mowbray Street, Kelham Island, Sheffield, was made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), the purpose of which was to prevent him from committing further sexual offences. Cox’s latest sexual offending, involving the repeated rape of a 15-year-old girl - Girl A - was exposed after ViSOR (Violent and Sex Offender Register) officers attended his address and checked his devices as part of his management as a high-risk sex offender. A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Checks of his devices revealed a conversation between Cox and another girl in which she alleged he had raped her on several occasions between December 2017 and December 2018 when she was 15-years-old. “Officers spoke to the girl who said that Cox had added her on social media and that they had arranged to meet in person, at which point Cox raped her. “Cox then used explicit photos which he had coerced her into sending him to pressure her into meeting him again, and he raped her on two further occasions.” He subsequently entered not guilty pleas to the charges of rape he faced in relation to Girl A. The SYP spokesperson continued: “A jury saw through his lies and he was found guilty of all counts following a three-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court on November 21, 2024.” Analysis of Cox’s devices also uncovered an online communication he had engaged in with a 14-year-old girl - Girl B - to whom he sent sexually explicit messages and images. A total 39 indecent images of children were found on his device, more than half of which were Category A, the most explicit category. He was sentenced during a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on January 20, 2025, when he was jailed for 14 years and made the subject of a life-long SHPO. | SYP
18. Mark Nicholls: Jailed for 10 years
Rapist Mark Nicholls was branded ‘remorseless’ by Judge Peter Hampton, who sent him to begin a decade-long prison sentence during a Sheffield Crown Court sentencing hearing held on Monday, March 10, 2025. Cowardly Nicholls not only sought to deny responsibility for the sex crimes he subjected the teenager he preyed upon to by entering not guilty pleas. But when jurors rejected his version of events to find him guilty, he then changed his account once more to the author of his pre-sentence report, claiming that he had engaged in consensual sexual activity with the complainant. Judge Hampton told Nicholls: “You accept that you sat in the witness box and lied to the jury…You knew she would be cross examined, and accused of lying. You will say anything you need to, to achieve what you want to achieve.” “You have shown no remorse.” By contrast, Judge Hampton praised the complainant - who is entitled to lifelong anonymity - for the ‘great fortitude, resilience and strength’ she has shown in coming forward, and helping to take Nicholls off South Yorkshire’s streets. “The court pays tribute to you,” Judge Hampton told the young woman, who was present in court to see Nicholls, aged 37, jailed. | SYP
19. John March: Jailed for four years
A remorseless Sheffield man is beginning a prison sentence today, after jurors found him guilty of multiple counts of rape, all of which were committed while he was in his early teens against a much younger boy. Sentencing John March, now aged 20, Judge Sarah Wright told him: “These were very serious offences.” March had sought to deny responsibility for the string of sexual offences he was accused of, but jurors rejected his account when he was found guilty of six counts of rape of a child under 13 and of one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity at the conclusion of a Sheffield Crown Court trial. John March, aged 20, had sought to deny responsibility for the string of sexual offences he was accused of, but jurors rejected his account when he was found guilty of six counts of rape of a child under 13 and of one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity at the conclusion of a Sheffield Crown Court trial. No impact statement on behalf of the boy March preyed upon, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was provided to the court. Judge Wright suggested, however, that the way in which the boy continues to be impacted by March’s offending had been demonstrated through the evidence heard during the course of the trial. “This has understandably had a significant effect upon this young boy…and will continue to do so, no doubt, throughout his life,” Judge Wright said during a sentencing hearing held on January 10, 2025 at the same court. Judge Wright jailed March for four years, but said he would have received a custodial sentence ‘in excess of 10 years’ had he been an adult when he committed the offences. | SYP
20. Romauld Stefan Houphouet and Absolom Sigiyo: Jailed for combined total of 38 years, six months
Two men who got children drunk and then abused them countless times at Rotherham parties have been jailed for a combined total of nearly 40 years. Romauld Stefan Houphouet, aged 37, an Ivoirian national of Sheffield, and Absolom Sigiyo, 42, a Zimbabwean national of Rotherham, were found guilty of raping two 15-year-old girls countless times between 2011 and 2012, after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court. Sigiyo was also found guilty of intimidating one of the victims when he pressured her in an attempt to stop her supporting the NCA investigation launched in 2018. The defendants were both jailed on March 5, 2025, with Houphouet handed a 20-year prison sentence and Sigiyo jailed for 18 years, six months. | NCA