The Government will leave ‘no stone unturned’ in efforts to deport evil grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed, as ministers eye up a suite of sanctions for Pakistan if they refuse to accept his return.
Rochdale gang leader Ahmed, 73, has been stripped of his British citizenship leaving him with only Pakistani nationality.
However, he cannot be deported due to a 1971 law that forbids the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago, something Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is determined to change.
He settled here in 1967 as a 14-year-old, making him ineligible for deportation under the existing rules.
Reports have also suggested Pakistan might not accept Ahmed because he had previously renounced his citizenship.
Ahmed was released from HMP Leeds on Thursday after serving just 14 years of the 22-year sentence handed to him in 2012 for the crime of 30 child rape offences.
Health Secretary James Murray told Sky News‘ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: ‘I want this man out of the country, I think we all do.’
He added: ‘I know that this is a job for the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary to work out the exact way of getting him deported. I’m not going to step on their toes by suggesting exactly how they should do that.
‘But I don’t think they would object to me saying that as a government we should leave no stone unturned.’
Shabir Ahmed was released from prison this week amid calls for his removal to Pakistan following his crimes
The other eight members of a Rochdale grooming gang who were convicted in 2012 of offences including rape, trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children
Health Secretary James Murray (left) and Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick (right) spoke to Sky News about the efforts to deport Ahmed
Asked if that could mean threatening to withhold aid money from Pakistan or blocking remittances being sent by Pakistanis in the UK back to their home country, Mr Murray said: ‘I’m not going to speculate on exactly what mechanisms the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary might use.
‘That is their responsibility to think through the best way of getting the outcome we all want, which is this man to be out of our country.’
Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said the UK should be pausing aid and visas to Pakistan and ‘putting maximum pressure on the Pakistani government’ in order to deport grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed.
The Newark MP told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: ‘You’ve got to use all the levers of the British state to get these despicable people out of the country.
‘And I’m afraid to say successive governments, Conservative and Labour, have just been too weak.
‘We are not a weak country. We do have ways of doing this – we’re giving around 80 million quid every year in aid to Pakistan. The Home Office issues tens of thousands of visas to Pakistanis.
‘We should be pausing the aid, pausing the visas, putting maximum pressure on the Pakistani government to take this man back.’
The Conservatives have said they will attempt to amend the Government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill “to close the loophole” preventing Ahmed’s deportation.
On Friday afternoon, Whitehall sources said all options for ensuring the deportation of the newly-freed Rochdale man are on the table, including visa sanctions, financial sanctions, or withholding foreign aid.
A Whitehall source told The Times: ‘Nobody’s in any doubt that we can change the law — the 1971 Immigration Act is a problem and we’re looking at what the art of the possible is and I’m sure there’s some form of way to make that work.
‘But the most important part of this is the diplomatic side of things. If that doesn’t get anywhere then we’re completely stuck in terms of being able to deport him.
‘It’s our relations with the Pakistani government where we’re going to come unstuck. It doesn’t feel hugely likely given they’ve dug their heels in on previous cases.’
A source added that it’s ‘technically true’ that visa sanctions are among the options being considered, but these are viewed as a last-resort option.
Any sanctions-based reprisals for the South Asian country would have to be led by the Foreign Office, not the Home Office.
Andy Burnham received criticism earlier this week when he publicly called on the Home and Foreign Secretaries to ‘review all possible options’, adding ‘they should consider nothing is off the table’.
Ahmed cannot be deported due to a 1971 law that forbids the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago, something Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) is determined to change
Police launched their first investigation into child grooming in Rochdale in 2007
One Foreign Office insider warned that Mr Burnham’s public demand that anything be done to secure Mr Ahmed will result in Britain paying a ‘high price’ to ensure the outcome.
They said Pakistan are ‘very smart operators’ who will now hold all the cards in the negotiations.
On Friday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage set up the deportation of ‘monster’ Ahmed as Mr Burnham’s first crucial task in office to prove to wavering voters he can address their migration concerns.
He said: ‘Ahmed is not British. He’s a Pakistani national. He must be deported. But Labour say he can’t be.
‘Reform would repeal Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971 so foreign rape gang perpetrators can be deported. And we would suspend ALL visas for Pakistanis until they agree to take back Shabir Ahmed.
‘No visit, study, work, or family visas. None. Each year, we grant around 175,000 visas to Pakistani nationals – including to some very powerful ones keen on spending time in London.
‘Their Government would agree to take back Ahmed within hours of us doing this. As with so many of the problems we face, deporting Shabir Ahmed is really about political will.
‘Andy Burnham says all options are on the table, will he act?’
A No. 10 spokesman said at the time: ‘We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Islamabad and we are committed to doing everything possible to deport foreign national offenders, and we’re clear that they should have no place in this country.’
This week, the Daily Mail revealed that Ahmed was refused parole just four years ago as he was deemed too dangerous.
The damning assessment was made by the Parole Board in 2022 when the former taxi driver – who forced his victims to call him ‘Daddy’ – made an unsuccessful attempt at being released early.
It followed Ahmed punching a fellow inmate in the face for saying ‘terrorists should be eradicated’ and then repeatedly stamped on his head.
The shocking outburst at maximum security Wakefield Prison – known as Monster Mansion for housing some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners – was sparked by a deadly wave of terror attacks which struck Brussels, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300.
Andy Burnham (pictured) received criticism earlier this week when he publicly called on the Home and Foreign Secretaries to ‘review all possible options’, adding ‘they should consider nothing is off the table’
After threatening to kill James Palmer ‘if you slag off Muslims again’, the convicted paedophile attacked the 71-year-old, sending his false teeth flying, a court later heard.
Ahmed was convicted of causing actual bodily harm over the 2016 prison attack and given an extra 12-month sentence, to run concurrently.
A summary of Ahmed’s 2022 parole rejection reveals that his probation officer ‘advised that release to the community at this stage could not be safe as Mr Ahmed had not sufficiently reduced his risks’.
After considering all the evidence, the panel concluded that Ahmed was ‘appropriately located in custody where outstanding levels of risk could be contained or addressed’.
It also states that at the time he was preying on young girls, Ahmed had a ‘belief that it was acceptable to sexually abuse underage victims’.
As the news of the paedophile’s release from prison was released to the public, one of the survivors of the grooming in Rochdale described her fear at the idea of him prowling the streets, and her disbelief at the system’s failure to get rid of him as promised.
It has emerged that she previously ran into another of her abusers at a supermarket, having not known he had been released from prison.
The victim, known as Ruby (not her real name), told BBC Newsnight: ‘I was 12 years old when this started and still getting failed.
‘There are broken victims because of a broken system. I am scared for my safety and my children’s safety.
‘The main ringleader, who is well known in Rochdale, Oldham and Middleton, is being released from prison.
‘Even if he is not in those areas, he still knows people and could contact them, which makes me feel unsafe.’
Ruby questioned why the country was still blindly following legislation set 55 years ago.
She said: ‘At the end of the trial, we were told they would all be deported once released, but not one of them has been deported.
‘We need these laws to be updated.
‘Laws need to change, and victims need to be heard.’
Ahmed was one of nine men convicted of sexual offences against multiple children, who they groomed at two takeaway restaurants in Rochdale. Prosecutors identified him as one of the ringleaders.
A court heard that Ahmed had abused one girl for more than a decade, using her as a ‘possession’ for sexual gratification.
Victims learned that his conditions of release will include an exclusion zone covering the entire borough of Rochdale until June 10, 2034.
He will also be required to live in supervised accommodation under the watch of 24-hour staff.
Two other jailed Rochdale abusers, Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, have already been released but also cannot be deported for the same reason.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login