Grooming gang leader guilty of 30 child rapes freed from UK jail won't be deported
Shabir Ahmed, 73, a key figure in the Rochdale grooming gang, has been released from prison after serving his sentence. The serial child rapist, convicted of 30 child rapes, relocated to the UK from Pakistan but has had his British citizenship stripped following his conviction for his appalling crimes.
Despite efforts to remove him from the country, Ahmed will remain in the UK because of the Immigration Act 1971, which protects Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 from deportation. He has renounced his Pakistani citizenship, making deportation impossible. Rather than being removed, Ahmed will be allowed to live within a local community subject to a series of curfews, restrictions and exclusion zones.
Ahmed was sentenced in 2012 to concurrent terms of 22 and 19 years. He was among nine men found guilty of sexual offences against children whom the gang groomed at two takeaway establishments in Rochdale. Prosecutors identified Ahmed as one of the gang's ringleaders. During his trial, the court heard how he abused one girl for more than a decade, treating her as a possession for his own sexual gratification.
Victims of Ahmed have reportedly been informed via email of his release. The Victim Contact scheme notified his victims that he will be subject to an exclusion zone covering the entire borough of Rochdale until June 10, 2034. The correspondence confirmed that every possible avenue to deport Ahmed from the country had been thoroughly explored. The Home Office spent more than a year attempting to persuade Pakistan to accept Ahmed and other members of the grooming gang who have had their British citizenship stripped but have renounced their Pakistani nationality.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are first and foremost with the victims of these appalling crimes. Ahmed's horrific crimes were at the heart of the grooming gangs scandal that represents one of the darkest moments in our country's history. The most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists and must face the full force of the law."
On release, Ahmed will be on the sex offender's register for life, ordered to stay away from his victims and banned from contacting any child or young person. His every movement will be tracked with an electronic tag, and breach of his conditions will result in immediate imprisonment.