Pictured: Rochdale grooming gang leader enjoying first taste of post-prison life 15 miles from where he abused girls as young as 13 who called him 'Daddy' - and the reason he's now SAFER than ever

By JAMES FIELDING, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 12:04, 16 July 2026 | Updated: 12:04, 16 July 2026 The leader of the Rochdale grooming gang is pictured for the first time since leaving prison – at a bail hostel just 15 miles from the scene of his vile crimes. Shabir Ahmed, 73, known as 'Daddy' by his victims, some of whom were as young as 13, was photographed as he arrived at Highfield House in Accrington, following his release two weeks ago. He has now been moved from the approved premises in the Lancashire mill town after his location was leaked on social media. While a resident at Highfield House, Ahmed rarely ventured out of his room. When he did, it was to sit alone in the canteen or exercise by himself, the Daily Mail can reveal. The Victorian manor house is surrounded by a tight network of terraced streets filled with families and within a mile radius of at least eight schools. It's also a five-minute walk from a popular park and children’s playground. More importantly, it is just a 30-minute drive from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, where Ahmed led a gang of predominantly British Pakistani paedophiles in raping and sexually abusing young girls. He is banned from setting foot in the town, but news that he has been housed so close by has caused shockwaves of revulsion among his victims, as well as locals in Accrington. Maggie Oliver, the former Greater Manchester Police detective who resigned to blow the whistle on the force’s failure to protect child sex-abuse victims in the Rochdale grooming scandal, said the decision was ‘pretty neglectful and pretty horrific’. She added: ‘It really is the lunatics running the asylum.’ The leader of the Rochdale grooming gang is pictured for the first time since leaving prison – at a bail hostel just 15 miles from the scene of his vile crimes Ahmed, who held dual British and Pakistani citizenship, was jailed for 22 years in August 2012 after being jailed for 30 child rape charges. He served 14 years behind bars and was released early on licence on July 2. Despite calls for him to be deported to Pakistan, a 55-year-old legal loophole meant that British authorities could not kick him out of the country. Instead, he was given an escort out of jail to Highfield House. The hostel is staffed 24/7 and security was reportedly ramped up when he arrived, with guards being sent to man the entry gate which remained padlocked at all times during his stay. There is a small duck pond and duck house in the grounds, as well as an outdoor gym, five-a-side football pitch and a seating area. A resident who agreed to speak out anonymously said: ‘He came here just after he left prison but never left the hostel. In fact, he rarely left his room. ‘We knew who he was because he was given a police escort when he arrived. ‘There’s maybe 16 or so male residents here and we can all come and go but have to be back for a certain time, depending on our curfew, and we have to sign in and out. ‘He’d hide away in his room all day. I only saw him a few times in the canteen when I went to get a cup of tea. He sat on his own, nobody really wanted anything to do with him. ‘Nobody attacked him – even though we’d have liked to – because we didn’t want to breach the terms of our licence and be recalled to prison. ‘There was lot of security on the front of the gate because of him. ‘That’s all gone now. He was taken out on Tuesday by a police escort. It got out that he was here, which it was bound to, and the police and Probation Service moved him on. ‘There was a lot of drama earlier in the day because word had got round social media and members of the public turned up at the hostel. ‘I don’t know where he’s gone. Far away from here, hopefully.’ Shabir Ahmed seen in his custody photograph from 2012. A source said he looks a lot slimmer now Another source added: ‘Residents can come and go from the hostel under curfew but he didn’t leave the grounds once during the time he was here. ‘You’d maybe occasionally see him in the canteen or sometimes he’d go out into the grounds to walk and get a bit of exercise later in the afternoon, but he didn’t mix with anyone. ‘He’s a lot slimmer than his custody photograph from 2012 and he now has a small grey beard. ‘Word got round that he was in Accrington and social media blew up. People came down on Tuesday and there were people hanging around the woods above the hostel trying to see if they could see him. ‘I don’t know who leaked that information, though, as residents were warned they could be recalled to prison if they revealed where he was. ‘But people found out anyway. All I know is they put a coat over him and put him in a police car and got him out. He’s now being put up somewhere else.’ News of Ahmed’s presence at Highfield House began circulating on X early this week, with one post revealing his whereabouts ‘for safety reasons as this man is an agent for Satan'. Local Facebook group Hyndburn Community Chat also highlighted his location and linked his arrival at the hostel with the fact the front gates – normally left open – were suddenly locked shut. In the comments, Nay Slater wrote: ‘Accy [Accrington] seems to be a dumping ground for paedos and smack heads from other towns so it wouldn't surprise me at all. ‘I've never seen those gates closed in my life until yesterday.’ Another woman who lives nearby, Amanda Almond, wrote: ‘They put this piece of s*** literally on the doorstep of hundreds of children.’ Other residents also vented their fury. One man who lives opposite the hostel told the Daily Mail: ‘He shouldn’t have been in there, I’ve worked with ex-cons before but someone like him, I’d draw a line. ‘I’d be happy to see him – and the rest of the grooming gang for that matter – rot in prison. ‘This hostel isn’t far from Rochdale, where he abused all those young girls. It’s disgusting, what must they think? ‘He’s been moved on now and it’s a relief but it’ll be to another town somewhere and what about the people who live there? He should either stay locked up or be deported to Pakistan.’ Alan Heaton, 57, added: ‘It’s not right he was put up here – not with all the families living nearby, with all the schools in the area and the fact there’s a park just around the corner which has a kiddie’s play park. ‘Violent sex offenders like him shouldn’t be put up in this hostel. None of the residents were warned he was coming beforehand and I think that’s just wrong.’ Ahmed was the oldest of nine men convicted as part of the Rochdale grooming scandal. He was identified by police as the main trafficker of the victims. On one occasion, he ordered a 15-year-old girl to have sex with fellow groomer Kabeer Hassan, as a ‘treat’ for his birthday. Victims were physically assaulted and raped by as many as five men at a time and obliged to have sex with ‘several men in a day, several times a week’. Many were plied with cigarettes, drugs and alcohol and taken to various locations in the north of England, including Rochdale, Oldham – where Ahmed lived – Bradford and Leeds, where men would pay small sums of money to rape underage girls. One 13-year-old victim later told police that she was forced to have sex with her attacker in exchange for vodka and was immediately raped again and given £40 to not say anything. Other incidents recorded by Greater Manchester Police included a 15-year-old girl too drunk to recall being raped by 20 men, one after the other; and another victim so drunk that she vomited over the side of the bed as she was being raped by two men. One 13-year-old victim had an abortion after becoming pregnant. Maggie Oliver, the former Greater Manchester Police detective who resigned to blow the whistle on the force’s failure to protect child sex-abuse victims in the Rochdale grooming scandal, said the decision to place him in Accrington was ‘pretty neglectful and pretty horrific’ Ahmed, who came to the UK in the late 1960s, was stripped of his British citizenship by the courts after he was jailed, and it was expected he would be deported when his sentence was complete. But the Immigration Act 1971 bars the removal of any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had been in the country for five years. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was asked to review the case by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to deport Ahmed and has now announced plans to change the law so that foreign criminals will no longer benefit from these protections when they are guilty of serious crimes. It would bring the law on deportation in line with the law on the removal of citizenship. Ms Oliver, who now provides advocacy and trauma support for some of the Rochdale survivors, said: ‘If powers-that-be have chosen to send him to Accrington, which is basically in Rochdale’s backyard and very close to Oldham and the areas where he’s known to have raped countless children over the years, I am horrified. ‘I’m as horrified as I know the victims and survivors will be because they have felt genuine fear and have been scared out of their wits even with the knowledge he was coming out of prison, so to know that he is literally in their backyard beggars belief. ‘There’s very little I hear any more in the criminal justice system that shocks me because I know that the offenders are always where the considerations lie, not the victims, but it really is the lunatics running the asylum. ‘If I had been making this decision I would’ve put him at the other end of the country, I would’ve put him in the heights of Scotland or down in deepest, darkest Devon, keeping him well out of the way of potentially bumping into his former victims. ‘If he has been placed in Accrington I think it’s pretty neglectful and pretty horrific.’ In a statement, the MP for Hyndburn, Sarah Smith, said: ‘I am disgusted that he was ever here in the first place and I join other MP colleagues in calling for a much wider exclusion zone so he is not placed in Lancashire or the North West. ‘He must be deported as soon as possible and I am pleased the Government is taking steps to secure this. 'My first thoughts are with his victims. His release will bring back unimaginable trauma for the women whose lives were changed for ever by his sickening crimes. ‘They deserved to know that once he left prison he would leave this country. Instead, they have been told he remains here, far too close to the scenes of his crimes and to his victims. ‘This man came to this country, led one of the most notorious child grooming gangs in British history, subjected children to vile abuse and it is deeply shocking that he was then released into our community. He shouldn’t be here. He is not a British citizen, and he should be deported immediately.’ A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'Public protection is our top priority. 'This offender is subject to the toughest supervision possible and he will be on the sex offender’s register for life. He is also banned from contacting his victims, or any child or young person, and has his movements tracked.' Meanwhile, the government of Pakistan has indicated they have no intention of accepting Ahmad even if the UK does try to deport him. Pakistan's Foreign Affairs spokesman Tahir Andrabi said: 'Regardless of where he was born, the onus lies on where he grew up, was raised, groomed and unfortunately spoilt. 'His heinous crimes demand serious introspection rather than a quest to search for extraneous causes. Let me add that the government of Pakistan has no connection whatsoever with this matter.'