Labour is considering bringing emergency legislation to deport the Pakistan-born ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang.
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Alex Norris, minister for border security and asylum, when asked in the House of Commons whether govt could fast-track legislation to pave the way to deport Shabir Ahmed, said “all options are on the table”.
Ahmed (73), known as “Daddy” to his victims, was released last week after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. He was responsible for grooming vulnerable white girls as young as 12, plying them with alcohol and drugs, gang-raping them in rooms above takeaway shops in Oldham and Rochdale, and ferrying them to different flats for sex.
The families of his victims said they feel deeply fearful and let down by his release.
Ahmed, who came to the UK in 1967 aged 14 from Pakistan Punjab, held dual British and Pakistani citizenship when he was convicted.
He was stripped of his British citizenship in 2016 and was expected to be deported to Pakistan when released. He has managed to evade deportation because, having arrived in the UK before 1971, he is exempt due to Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971, which preserved the rights of Commonwealth and Irish citizens who were already in the UK when the act took effect on Jan 1, 1973. The provisions were put in place to protect the Windrush generation.
Tory MP Katie Lam said: “The idea that he might be allowed to stay in this country because of a clause in a decades-old law designed for a completely different time and context is not just absurd, but sickening.”
Norris said he would consider proposals put forward by the Conservatives to remove the sections of the act granting protection from deportation to any Commonwealth citizen.
Some MPs raised fears Pakistan may not accept him. Tory MP Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst said: “Is the minister prepared to use sanctions against Pakistan to ensure the deportation of this grievous individual?”
Norris replied: “We want to work closely with the govt of Pakistan to remove people with no right to be here, and that is what we are doing.”
