Rochdale Grooming Gang Leader Released Under Strict Supervision After Serving Part of 19-Year Sentence

Shabir Ahmed, 73, was released from prison on or before July 2 after serving part of a 19-year sentence handed down in 2012. GB News reported that Ahmed, convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of two rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking for sexual exploitation, is now held in secure accommodation fitted with a GPS tag.

Ahmed led the Rochdale grooming gang that abused five girls over roughly ten years.

He arrived in the UK before 1973 and had lived in the country for at least five years, which bars his removal under the Immigration Act 1971. Two other gang members, Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, were also stripped of British citizenship after the same convictions. The Home Office said Ahmed's crimes were appalling and that he faces stringent licence conditions.

He must live in supervised accommodation 24 hours a day and is barred from an exclusion zone centred on Rochdale. Sir Keir Starmer asked Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to consider what can be done to deport Ahmed. No10 stated that the government will do everything in its power to remove foreign nationals who commit offences in the UK.

Andy Burnham called for senior ministers to review all possible options for deportation. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would seek to amend the Immigration and Asylum Bill to close the loophole that prevents Ahmed's immediate removal.

Labour MP Paul Waugh, whose constituency includes Rochdale, said the people of Rochdale want Ahmed removed and that it is unacceptable Pakistan has refused to take him back.