South Yorkshire Police's specialist Major Incident Review Team has achieved multiple convictions in historical sexual assault cases by applying modern DNA profiling and advanced forensic techniques to decades-old evidence. The unit systematically re-examines archived physical samples from past investigations, using scientific methods that were unavailable when the crimes were originally investigated.

The effort has resulted in four prosecutions for offences committed between 1981 and 1991, including attacks on a woman in her home, two assaults in Barnsley, an incident in Stannington, and an attack on a disabled woman. The convicted men received sentences ranging from nine to sixteen years, with several cases dependent on DNA matching against national databases that enabled investigators to identify perpetrators decades after the crimes.