Government 'cannot deport' grooming gang ringleader

Government 'cannot deport' grooming gang ringleaderImage source, GMPImage caption, Shabir Ahmed was the head of a gang which abused girls as young as 12 Published29 minutes agoThe ringleader of a notorious Rochdale grooming gang is set to be released from jail this week and cannot be deported, his victims have been told.Shabir Ahmed, 73, known to his victims as "Daddy", had dual British-Pakistani citizenship but was stripped of the former following his conviction in 2012 for multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls.Documents shared online, reportedly from the Probation Service to one of his victims, state that he will be released on Thursday.The Home Office said Ahmed's crimes were "appalling" and that he would be subject to stringent licence conditions upon his release from prison. Ahmed must initially live in supervised accommodation 24/7 and will be subject to an "exclusion zone" centred on Rochdale.The papers published online said Ahmed cannot be deported back to Pakistan due to provisions under the Immigration Act 1971. The act says because Ahmed arrived in the UK before 1973 and lived in the country for at least five years before his deportation was considered, his removal is barred. 'Violent bully'In 2022, Andy Burnham, likely to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, called on the Conservative government "to do everything within [its] power" to deport members of grooming gangs.Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale, told The Daily Telegraph: "The people of Rochdale want him booted out of the country and it's simply unacceptable that the government of Pakistan are refusing to take him back. "If the Citizenship Act needs to be amended to do that, ministers should look at doing just that."For two years from early 2008, girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs, gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash wa...