DETECTIVES are appealing for help to identify three men as part of an ongoing rape investigation in Barnsley.
The investigation was launched by West Yorkshire Police when they received a report that a group of five men and two teenage girls had travelled from Wakefield to a car park, where one girl was raped and the other was sexually assaulted.
Following extensive enquiries, the investigation was transferred to South Yorkshire Police.
As part of the inquiry, officers established that a large number of people have access to the vehicle that the suspects travelled from Wakefield in. Officers then quickly tracked down and arrested the owner of the vehicle and he was released with no further action following DNA analysis and descriptions provided by the girls.
Other males who also had access to the car were arrested, and they too were eliminated through DNA comparison.
As enquiries continue, police have released CCTV images of three men officers believe may be able to help with the investigation.
Detective Constable Paul Jones, the officer in charge of the case, said: "We have undertaken a lot of investigative work since this investigation was transferred to us from West Yorkshire Police.
"This includes extensive CCTV trawls, suspect interviews, DNA analysis, and other forensic work. While these CCTV images are not as clear as we would like, we are hoping that those pictured or someone who knows them will recognise them and contact us to assist us with our enquiries.
“Do you recognise any of these men, or have other information that could help officers with their investigation? You can report information to us online through this link or by calling 101 quoting incident number 1007 of 14 February 2024.”
