Rochdale grooming gang leader who raped girls is set to be released from prison amid furious row over inability to deport him

By MARTIN ROBINSON, CHIEF REPORTER Published: 11:16, 2 July 2026 | Updated: 11:22, 2 July 2026 The leader of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang - convicted of 30 child rapes - is being released from prison today amid the continuing row over the failure to deport him from Britain. Shabir Ahmed, 73, is leaving HMP Leeds on Thursday and will begin civilian life in a bail hostel in the north of England, costing taxpayers around £120 a night. Despite his conviction in 2012 for multiple rapes and sexual offences against young girls, his victims - most of them white, working-class children - have been told he cannot be deported to Pakistan. They have also voiced fears for their own safety now the Rochdale grooming gang leader is being freed after serving 14 years of his 19 year sentence behind bars. Ahmed held dual British-Pakistani citizenship and was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction. Yet the Government insists it has no legal powers to remove him from the UK. The paedophile - who instructed his victims to call him 'Daddy' - is a Pakistani national who acquired British citizenship through naturalisation. He plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs before 'passing them around' to be abused by him and eight of his friends. He has spent years fighting deportation to Pakistan at taxpayers' expense, citing human rights laws and arguing that his removal from the UK would affect the welfare of his children. After his convictions, he complained it was because there were 'eleven white jurors' at his trial, adding: 'It's become fashionable to blame everything on Muslims these days.' Three-times-married Ahmed has four children living in the UK, having moved here from Pakistan around 50 years ago. Rochdale abuse gang leader Shabir Ahmed, 73, is being released from prison but despite being stripped of British citizenship cannot be deported to Pakistan Shabir Ahmed accusing the white community of letting down the girls who testified against him and his sex gang during the 2012 trial Prime minister in waiting Andy Burnham has said he would ask senior ministers to find a way to deport him. He tweeted: '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.' In 2022, when he was mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham called on the Tory government 'to do everything within [its] power' to deport grooming gang members. The failure to deport members of grooming gangs has caused deep anger in communities and among victims. In 2012, Sir Keir – then head of the Crown Prosecution Service – oversaw the jailing of the gang. But last year, one of those jailed – Abdul Aziz – won a human rights battle that prevented his deportation to Pakistan. Justice minister Jake Richards told the BBC's Politics Live there were long-standing issues with 'our ability to deport foreign national offenders to Pakistan'. 'We need to try and work on that and see whether it's possible, but in this case, it seems unlikely,' he said. When asked if the law should be changed to allow the deportation, he said: 'I think it's very difficult to change the law to look retrospectively.' But he added he was 'absolutely looking at this individual and if he is to be released from prison, looking at what we are doing to ensure, firstly, to look after his victims and keeping the community safe'. Meanwhile, one victim – identified only as 'Ruby' – said: 'I'm scared for my safety and my kids' safety. 'The main ringleader is getting out of prison, who is well known in Rochdale, Oldham and Middleton, so even if he's not in that area, he still knows people and has a chance to talk to people from that area and that makes me unsafe.' She said victims of abuse had been given 'false promises' and left to 'fend for themselves' through a lack of support from the authorities. Documents published online – understood to be from the Probation Service – state that he cannot be deported back to Pakistan due to provisions in the Immigration Act 1971 which bar his removal. These are that he arrived in the UK before 1973 and has lived in the UK for at least five years before his deportation was considered. A national inquiry into grooming gangs was announced earlier this year after the Government came under increasing criticism. Ahmed was jailed for 30 rapes after he and his gang groomed girls in Rochdale (pictured) The Home Office said Ahmed's crimes were 'appalling' and that he would be subject to stringent licence conditions upon his release from prison. He must initially live in supervised accommodation 24/7 and will be subject to an 'exclusion zone' centred on Rochdale. Ahmed was jailed for 19 years in 2012 at Liverpool Crown Court as one of nine men in the Rochdale grooming gang convicted of offences against five girls. Police said as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang, and that many of them had come from 'chaotic', 'council estate' backgrounds. Judge Gerald Clifton said victims were treated 'as though they were worthless and beyond any respect' because they were not part of the gang's community or religion. Greater Manchester Police said at the time there was no 'racial or cultural' element to the crimes. A report later found that police had not acted despite multiple concerns being raised. It said there had been 'serious multiple failures' by police and local authorities. The comments below have been moderated in advance. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. 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