Tories offer Mahmood a way to deport Rochdale grooming gang ringleader after he was freed from prison
The Conservatives have offered the Home Secretary a way to deport Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed after he is released from prison.
Pakistan-born Ahmed, who was stripped of his British citizenship in 2016, was released from prison last week after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for multiple rapes and sexual offenses against girls.
But under the Immigration Act 1971 and parts of the UK Border Act 2007, Commonwealth citizens like Ahmed are prevented from being deported even if they have been convicted of serious offences.
Now shadow home secretary Chris Philp has called on his Labor counterpart Shabana Mahmood to consider her proposed changes to emergency legislation; This, if rushed through Parliament, could mean Ahmed being sent to Pakistan soon.
Mr Philp proposed repealing two sections of the Immigration Act 1971, which provide protection from deportation to any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in Britain before 1973 and resided there for more than five years.
The UK Borders Act 2007, which replicates this exemption, will also need to be repealed. This would ensure that Ahmed is treated like any other foreign criminal who faces automatic deportation if he is jailed or receives a suspended sentence of one year or more.
The changes state that legislative changes should be applied retroactively to ensure that offenders like Ahmed, who committed crimes more than a decade ago, are taken into account.
Mr Philp said Britain ‘could not allow’ Ahmed to remain in the country.
Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, was released from prison last week after serving 14 of a lengthy 22-year sentence. According to current legislation, Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan, cannot be deported.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp (pictured) called on Labor to consider changes to emergency legislation that could mean Ahmed being deported to Pakistan soon
Mr Philip asked Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) to consider changes to both the Immigration Act 1971 and the UK Border Act 2007
He said: ‘Shabir Ahmed is a despicable rapist who organized a gang of men of Pakistani origin to systematically gang rape 12-year-old girls.
‘Vile men like this have no place in the UK and this man must be sent back to Pakistan immediately.
‘We will therefore table a technical amendment to the Government’s immigration law to close the loophole dating back to 1971 that prevented his deportation.’
Mr Philp added that the bill should be introduced as emergency legislation, ensuring it ‘passes Parliament within a few days’.
Ahmed was released from HMP Leeds last Thursday after serving 14 years of a 22-year prison sentence for raping 30 children in 2012.
He was one of nine men convicted of sexual offenses against multiple children they cared for at two takeaways in Rochdale. Prosecutors identified Ahmed as one of the ringleaders.
The court heard the man abused a girl for more than 10 years and used her as ‘property’ for his own sexual gratification.
Health Secretary James Murray previously told Sky’s Trevor Phillips that he wanted ‘this man out of the country’.
Police launched the first investigation into childcare in Rochdale in 2007. Ahmed was convicted in 2012.
Eight other members of a grooming ring in Rochdale were convicted in 2012 of crimes including rape, human trafficking and conspiracy to engage in child sex.
He said: ‘I know this is a job for the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary to find a definitive way to deport him. I won’t step on their toes by suggesting exactly how they should do this.
‘But I don’t think they will object to me saying that as a government we should leave no stone unturned.’
Asked whether this could mean threatening to withhold aid money from Pakistan or blocking money sent home by Pakistanis in Britain, Mr Murray added: ‘I won’t speculate on exactly what mechanisms the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary might use.
‘It is their responsibility to think about the best way to achieve the outcome we all want, which is to get this man out of our country.’
Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said Britain should put ‘maximum pressure on the Pakistani government’ to halt aid and visas to Pakistan and deport Ahmed.
He told Newark MP Trevor Phillips: ‘You must use all the tools of the British state to get these vile people out of the country.
‘And I’m afraid to say that successive Conservative and Labor governments have been very weak.
‘We are not a weak country. There are ways to do this; We provide approximately £80 million in aid to Pakistan every year. The Ministry of Internal Affairs issues tens of thousands of visas to Pakistanis.
‘We must stop the aid, stop the visas and put maximum pressure on the Pakistani government to take this man back.’
But Andy Burnham, who is tipped to be the next Prime Minister, was criticized last week for calling on the Home and Foreign Ministers to ‘consider all possible options’ regarding Ahmed’s deportation, adding that ‘they should consider that nothing is off the table’.
Andy Burnham (pictured) drew criticism when he publicly called on the Home and Foreign Secretaries to ‘consider all possible options’ for Ahmed’s deportation
A Foreign Office official warned of Mr Burnham’s public demand that anything done to secure Ahmed’s deportation would lead to Britain paying a ‘high price’ to secure that outcome.
They said Pakistan are ‘very smart operators’ and will therefore hold all the cards in future negotiations.
Reform Britain leader Nigel Farage also called for the deportation of ‘monster’ Ahmed to be Mr Burnham’s first major task in office.
Mr Farage said: ‘Ahmed is not British. He is a Pakistani citizen. He needs to be deported. But Labor says it can’t happen.
‘The reform will repeal Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971 so that perpetrators of foreign rape gangs can be deported. And we will suspend ALL visas of Pakistanis until they agree to take back Shabir Ahmed.
‘No visit, study, work or family visas. None. We issue visas to approximately 175,000 Pakistani citizens each year; These include very powerful ones who want to spend time in London.
‘Their government agrees to take Ahmed back within hours of us doing so. As with many problems we face, Shabir Ahmed’s deportation is actually about political will.
‘Andy Burnham says all options are on the table, will he take action?’
A No 10 spokesman said at the time: ‘We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Islamabad and are determined to do everything possible to deport foreign national criminals and are clear that they should have no place in this country.’
