UK Explores Deporting 73-Year-Old Grooming Gang Leader Shabir Ahmed Despite 1971 Law
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 2
UK Explores Deporting 73-Year-Old Grooming Gang Leader Shabir Ahmed Despite 1971 Law
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 2
Summary
Officials said they are examining “every route” to remove Shabir Ahmed after victims were told the Rochdale gang ringleader would be released on licence on Thursday.
The obstacle is the Immigration Act 1971, which victims were told blocks deportation of Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 and lived in the UK for at least five years.
Ahmed, jailed for 22 years in 2012 for leading a group of nine men who abused girls as young as 12, had been expected to be sent to Pakistan after losing his British citizenship.
Labour figures including Jim McMahon and Andy Burnham said the law should be tightened or bypassed, though McMahon said legal advice is needed on whether any change could apply retrospectively.
Victims and campaigners say Ahmed’s release heightens safety fears despite electronic tagging, an exclusion zone covering Rochdale and Oldham, and the threat of recall to prison for any breach.