Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed has been moved from his hostel after its location was shared on social media, as calls grow for the convicted sex offender to be deported amid a deportation loophole row.
Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed has been relocated from the hostel where he was staying following his prison release after its whereabouts was exposed on social media.
Ahmed headed a nine-man group, all of whom were convicted of abusing girls as young as 13 at Tasty Bites and another takeaway in Heywood from 2007. Ahmed, a former taxi driver known to his victims as ‘Daddy’, was sentenced to 22 years in 2012 after being found guilty of rape and multiple other sexual offences across two trials. He was freed earlier this month after completing 14 years.
The 73-year-old has been deprived of his British citizenship leaving him with only Pakistani citizenship. However, he cannot presently be deported due to a 1971 law that prohibits the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The government has since revealed plans to alter the law in order to enable his removal from the country. However Pakistan are continuing to oppose any attempt to send him back there.
Ahmed cannot go back to his previous home address in Oldham and is also banned from parts of Rochdale. He is bound by a series of licence conditions including remaining at approved accommodation staffed 24 hours a day but the revelation of the address of the hostel he was being housed in, in Accrington, Lancashire, sparked outrage locally.
Hyndburn MP Sarah Smith revealed she had pressured the authorities to relocate him elsewhere. “Since discovering that Shabir Ahmed had been freed from custody into Hyndburn, I did everything in my power to get him removed. I can confirm that he has been moved,” Ms Smith said in a statement.
“My thanks go to the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, and Lancashire Police for ensuring this outcome. I am disgusted that he was ever here in the first place, and I join other MP colleagues who have been calling for a much wider exclusion zone so that he is not placed in Lancashire or the North West.
“He must be deported as soon as possible, and I am pleased the Government is taking steps to secure this. My first thoughts are with his victims. His release will bring back unimaginable trauma for the women whose lives were changed forever by his sickening crimes.
“They deserved to know that once he left prison, he would leave this country. Instead, they have been told he remains here, far too close to the scenes of his crimes and to his victims.
“This man came to this country, led one of the most notorious child grooming gangs in British history, subjected children to vile abuse, and it is deeply shocking that he was then released into our community. He shouldn’t be here. He is not a British citizen, and he should be deported immediately.”
Government ‘exploring every available option’ to deport him. A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman stated: “Public protection is our top priority. This offender is subject to the toughest supervision possible and he will be on the sex offenders register for life. He is also banned from contacting his victims, or any child or young person, and has his movements tracked.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood this week unveiled plans to amend the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which is currently making its way through the Commons, to eliminate immunity under the 1971 Immigration Act.
However, she conceded in the Commons that despite the potential legislative change, she would be unable to deport him unless Pakistan consents to do so.
Victims Minister Catherine Atkinson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mahmood had a strong record of removals, citing instances where visa sanctions were threatened to ensure their execution.
“She threatened visa penalties for Angola, Namibia and Democratic Republic of Congo unless they took back illegal immigrants and four months later all three were co-operating, with flights off the ground,” Atkinson said.
“They were previous negotiations where countries refused to take back foreign national offenders and Shabana was able to secure those returns.”
On Thursday, a spokesperson for Sir Keir Starmer informed journalists ‘we are exploring every available option in this case, and that includes talking to the Pakistani authorities. ‘.
However, Tahir Andrabi, a representative for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed the BBC: “The matter in question is entirely an internal matter of the United Kingdom.
“The individual concerned is a British national who spent his entire adult life in the UK and was duly convicted by a British court for reprehensible offences committed on British soil.
“Any decision regarding his release, supervision of usual legal status, falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of the competent British authorities and must be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom.
“Regardless of where he was born, the onus lies on where he grew up, was raised, groomed, and unfortunately spoiled.”
He added: “The government of Pakistan has no connection whatsoever with this matter. We cannot be associated with any decisions relating to the individual’s release or subsequent treatment under the British law.”
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