The ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, Shabir Ahmed, has been released from prison after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence, leaving his victims frightened and the government scrambling to find a way to deport him.
Ahmed, 73, was known as 'Daddy' to the girls he abused, some as young as 12. He was jailed in August 2012 for a raft of child sexual offences including rape. Now he is living in 24-hour staffed accommodation, forced to wear an electronic GPS tag and banned from entering parts of Rochdale or his last known address in Oldham.
“Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed released on licence; victims fear for safety as government struggles to deport him due to a 1971 immigration law.”
But his victims say they feel unsafe. One woman, identified only as Amber, said she was 'absolutely furious' that officials did not tell her he would be released. 'I had to find out about it from the media, in the week of his release,' she told the Mirror. She said she has been unable to sleep and feels 'physically sick'. 'He has contacts in Rochdale. They operated as a gang – so even if he stays out of Rochdale, he could still get other men to do what he wants.'
Amber is not alone. Elizabeth Harper, whose own rapist Asghar Bostan was released early from prison and then spotted near her home in Rotherham in 2024, said the fear is real. 'It just goes to show how the system really isn't working,' she told Metro. 'I just feel like again we are seeing the poor victims are at the bottom of the pile.'
The government had stripped Ahmed of his British citizenship after his conviction, expecting him to be deported to Pakistan when his sentence ended. But a loophole in the Immigration Act 1971 prevents the removal of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 and have lived here for five years. Ahmed, who came to Britain in the late 1960s and held dual citizenship, cannot be sent away.
Sir Keir Starmer has now asked the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, to review the case. A No 10 spokeswoman said Ahmed 'will rightly be on the sex offenders register for life, ordered to stay away from his victims and banned from contacting any child or young person.' The Home Office said any breach of his strict licence conditions would result in him being immediately returned to prison.
In the Commons, Labour MP for Rochdale Paul Waugh urged the government to deport Ahmed, saying the Foreign Office 'should do everything possible within their power'. 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'.
Andy Burnham, expected to become Labour leader and prime minister in the coming weeks, wrote on social media: 'Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. 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.'
A government spokeswoman said they are 'currently working with colleagues across government to explore all possible options to deport this vile criminal.' But victims like Amber are left wondering if anything will change. 'I felt like I had been let down all over again,' she said.