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Shabir Ahmed, the 73-year-old figurehead of a well-known grooming gang in Rochdale, is scheduled to be released from prison this week. Despite being convicted in 2012 for numerous sexual offences and rapes involving underage girls, Ahmed cannot be deported, his victims have learned. Although he previously held dual British-Pakistani citizenship, Ahmed was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction. However, under the Immigration Act 1971, he is barred from deportation because he arrived in the UK before 1973 and lived in the country for at least five years before deportation was considered.
According to documents reportedly from the Probation Service and shared online, Ahmed will be freed on Thursday. The Home Office issued a statement condemning his crimes as “appalling” and confirmed that, upon release, he will be subject to strict licence conditions. These include living in supervised accommodation 24 hours a day and being restricted from entering an exclusion zone centered around Rochdale. Despite these measures, one of Ahmed’s victims expressed ongoing fear for her safety, explaining that his deep connections in Rochdale, Oldham, and Middleton make her feel vulnerable. She also voiced frustration over unfulfilled promises of deportation that were made at the end of the gang’s trial.
The grooming gang, operating chiefly between 2008 and 2010, subjected girls as young as 12 to abuse involving drugs, alcohol, and gang rape. The victims were often transported in taxis to different flats where they were exploited in exchange for cash. Ahmed, described during the trial as a “violent, hypocritical bully,” denied fairness in his conviction and even accused the judge of racism, later appealing to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2012, he was sentenced to 19 years in Liverpool Crown Court as one of nine men convicted in the wider case, which police estimate involved up to 50 victims from disadvantaged and unstable backgrounds.
The case stirred significant political and public outcry. In 2022, Andy Burnham urged the Conservative government to use all available powers to deport grooming gang members, while Paul Waugh, Rochdale’s MP, criticized Pakistan’s refusal to accept Ahmed’s return, urging ministers to consider amending citizenship laws. Meanwhile, other gang members, Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, faced lengthy legal battles after being stripped of their British citizenship in 2022 but fought deportation on human rights grounds. The Home Office reaffirmed that Ahmed must remain on the sex offenders’ register for life and warned that any breach of his licence conditions would result in immediate imprisonment
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