Health Secretary James Murray has vowed that the government will leave “no stone unturned” in its efforts to deport Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a Rochdale child sex grooming gang. Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Murray stated: “I want this man out of the country, I think we all do.”
Legal obstacles to deportation
Shabir Ahmed, 73, has been stripped of his British citizenship, leaving him with only Pakistani nationality. However, a 1971 law prevents the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago. Reports have also suggested that Pakistan might not accept Ahmed because he had previously renounced his citizenship.
Officials have been holding talks with Pakistani authorities to find a way to put Ahmed on a plane out of the UK. Murray 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.”
Pressure on Pakistan
When asked if the government could threaten to withhold aid money or block remittances, Murray declined to speculate on specific mechanisms. Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick, a former Tory home office minister, called for stronger action: “You’ve got to use all the levers of the British state to get these despicable people out of the country. We are 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.”
Ahmed's release and conditions
Ahmed, known to his victims as “Daddy”, was released from prison on July 2 after serving 14 years since his conviction in 2012 for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls. He is understood to have been freed on licence and must initially live at a bail hostel staffed 24 hours, wear an electronic GPS tag, and is subject to an exclusion zone preventing him from entering parts of Rochdale.
The Conservatives have said they will attempt to amend the Government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill “to close the loophole” preventing Ahmed’s deportation.
