Sir Keir Starmer has asked the Home Secretary to review the case of a Rochdale grooming gang ringleader amid growing calls for him to be deported. Shabir Ahmed, a former taxi driver known as 'Daddy', is set to be freed from prison today (July 2) after serving 14 years behind bars.
Background of the case
The 72-year-old led a nine-strong group, all of whom were found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 at Tasty Bites and another takeaway in Heywood from 2007. He was convicted in 2012 for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls. Victims have been told that Ahmed, who holds dual Pakistani-British citizenship, cannot be deported despite being stripped of his British citizenship.
This is 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.
Political reaction
Now, after mass calls, including from Andy Burnham, Downing Street said today that the Prime Minister had asked Shabana Mahmood to consider options for ensuring Ahmed's deportation, describing his case as 'particularly heinous'. In a statement, No 10 said: “We are absolutely clear that where foreign nationals commit offences in the UK we will do everything in our power to remove them.”
Ahmed's impending release brought calls for action from politicians, including from Makerfield MP Mr Burnham who is likely to be the next prime minister. "Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country", Mr Burnham said in a post on X. "Victims must come first. I will ask the Home and Foreign Secretaries to review all possible options - and they should consider nothing is off the table."
Parliamentary and victim responses
In the Commons, Rochdale Labour MP Paul Waugh called for Ahmed to be deported, saying the Foreign Office 'should do everything possible within their power' to make sure that happens. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would attempt to amend the Government's Immigration and Asylum Bill 'to close the loophole so that this man can be deported immediately'.
The father of one of Ahmed's victims has also called for the ringleader to be kicked out of the UK. The Manchester Evening News understands Ahmed is being moved to a location outside of Greater Manchester which will ensure he is miles away from the victims of the grooming network he led.
But the father of the prosecution's main witness - which led to the jailing of Ahmed and others in 2012 - has said that's not enough - and more effort should be made to deport him to his native Pakistan.
Release details
Ahmed was sentenced to 19 years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court in 2012. He is reportedly being held at HMP Leeds and it is understood he will be released on licence with terms that he must initially live at accommodation which is staffed 24 hours, so will not return to his last known address on Windsor Avenue in Oldham and is subject to an 'exclusion zone' centred on Rochdale.
