Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang who abused girls as young as 12, walked free from prison this week — and now the UK government is scrambling to find a way to remove him from the country.
Ahmed was released on Thursday after serving a sentence for multiple counts of rape and sexual offences, imposed in 2012. He is currently living in 24-hour staffed accommodation, wearing a GPS electronic tag. His victims said they felt “frightened” and “unsafe” by his release.
“UK officials are in talks with Pakistan to deport released grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, whose victims say they feel unsafe.”
The government’s urgency stems from a 55-year-old law — the Immigration Act 1971 — which bars the removal of any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had been in the country for five years. Ahmed, who came to the UK in the late 1960s, held dual British and Pakistani citizenship at the time of his conviction. His British citizenship was stripped by the courts after he was jailed, and deportation was expected upon completion of his sentence.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has asked the home secretary to review the case. A No 10 spokesperson confirmed: “We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Islamabad and we are committed to doing everything possible to deport foreign national offenders, and we’re clear that they should have no place in this country.” The spokesperson added that while the UK would “do everything in our power to remove” Ahmed, it was “clearly a complex case with implications beyond this specific incident.”
The UK government is considering amending the Immigration and Asylum Bill, currently going through Parliament, to change the 1971 law. But even if legal hurdles are cleared, the diplomatic challenge remains: Pakistan must agree to accept Ahmed. The No 10 spokesperson noted that “as previous governments have found, this necessarily involves the agreement of the receiving country — which has not always been possible.”
Andy Burnham, widely expected to replace Sir Keir as prime minister this month, has called for Ahmed to be deported. The Home Office has warned that any breach of Ahmed’s strict licence conditions would result in his immediate return to prison, but for now, his victims are left waiting — and afraid.