Rochdale Grooming Gang Leader Shabir Ahmed Scheduled for Prison Release on Thursday

Shabir Ahmed, 73, is scheduled for release from prison on Thursday after completing a 19-year sentence imposed in 2012 for multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls as young as 12. Ahmed was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court as one of nine men found guilty in the Rochdale grooming-gang trial for offences against five girls.

Greater Manchester Police stated that as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang.

Ahmed held dual British-Pakistani citizenship and was stripped of British citizenship after his conviction. Probation Service documents state he cannot be deported to Pakistan because he arrived in the UK before 1973 and had lived in the country for at least five years before deportation was considered, under the Immigration Act 1971.

Upon release Ahmed must live in supervised accommodation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is subject to an exclusion zone centred on Rochdale.

He must sign the sex offenders register for life, and any breach of licence conditions will result in immediate return to prison, the Home Office said. A victim told BBC Newsnight she was sexually abused from the age of 12 and has been informed of the Thursday release. She said victims were told at the end of the trial that all offenders would be deported, yet none have been.

The victim added that Ahmed is well-known in Rochdale, Oldham and Middleton, which leaves her feeling unsafe. Andy Burnham called on the Conservative government in 2022 to do everything within its power to deport members of grooming gangs. Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale, stated the people of Rochdale want Ahmed booted out of the country and that it is unacceptable Pakistan is refusing to take him back.

Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan were stripped of British citizenship in 2022 after a legal battle that reached the Court of Appeal. Both invoked Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to avoid deportation. A later report found serious multiple failures by police and local authorities in the Rochdale case.