READ MORE: How a terrified young schoolgirl was ensnared by the Rochdale gangSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR and DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR and JAMES TOZER, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT Published: 01:24 BST, 3 July 2026 | Updated: 02:29 BST, 3 July 2026
Ministers are under mounting pressure to find a way of deporting a notorious grooming gang ringleader freed from jail yesterday.Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was ordered to tackle the scandal after Downing Street initially said vile Shabir Ahmed could not be kicked out of the country because of a legal loophole.Despite being stripped of his British citizenship, the paedophile cannot currently be removed because the 1971 Immigration Act protects Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago.And there are fears that even if the law is changed, his home country of Pakistan will still refuse to take him back.Last night Ms Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper were urged to use the threats of restricting visas or cancelling aid payments unless Islamabad agrees to the return of the predator, the leader of a gang of nine men who exploited girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants in Rochdale after plying them with drink and drugs.Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'It is shameful that a vile perpetrator of child rape and grooming is remaining in our country even after his sentence has been completed.' Shabir Ahmed, the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang, was released from prison on Thursday and will remain in the country Ahmed, convicted of 30 child rapes, would ply young girls with drink and drugs and pass them around his ring of friends to sexually abuseHe has vowed to change the law to ensure foreign-born rapists can be deported but added: 'Any country that refuses to take back their own nationals should immediately have all foreign aid payments suspended and visa sanctions on an escalating scale should be imposed – so the country refusing to take back its own nationals will not have visas issued to its citizens wishing to come to the UK.' And Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer discussed the case last month with officials in Islamabad, one of whom said it is 'currently under the purview of Pakistan's interior ministry', it was reported.Rape gang campaigner and former Greater Manchester Police detective Maggie Oliver told GB News: 'My anger is that that law was in place in 2012. 'So whilst we're being told these men are going to be deported, it was known, or should have been known, that that was going to be impossible.'Ahmed – who was released from HMP Leeds after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence – is now in a bail hostel and must wear a GPS tag so the police and probation service will be alerted if he tries to return to parts of Rochdale or his last known address in Oldham. Homne Secretary Shabana Mahmood is under pressure to find a way of deporting Ahmed by overcoming the loophole protecting himThe 73-year-old, who forced victims to call him 'Daddy', was jailed for 19 years at Liverpool Crown Court in May 2012. He was sentenced to a concurrent term of 22 years for raping and sexually abusing a girl for more than a decade. Q&A Why can't Shabir Ahmed be deported?He was previously stripped of his British citizenship in the hope that he could be returned to his native Pakistan after serving his sentence, but a legal loophole prevents his removal from the UK.What is the law in question?The Immigration Act 1971, which protects Commonwealth citizens from being removed from the UK if they arrived in the UK before 1973 and lived here for at least five years before being considered for deportation.Is it possible the law will change?Yes, the Conservatives have vowed to table an amendment to an asylum Bill currently before Parliament in order to repeal the provision, and the Home Office is also looking at the matter.Would Ahmed then be deported?Not necessarily as his removal would require the agreement of Pakistan, which has previously refused to take back two of his co-defendants. The Foreign Office is understood to be in talks with Islamabad, and some MPs want the Government to use the threat of visa restrictions to add to the pressure. And it can be revealed that Ahmed – who was given an extra 12-month sentence for repeatedly stamping on a fellow inmate's head – was considered too dangerous to be released just four years ago.But it emerged earlier this week that he was due to be set free – with some victims only finding out from media reports. Vigilantes are said to be patrolling the streets of Rochdale to keep children safe.Last night Rochdale MP Paul Waugh said: 'This vile paedophile should not be allowed anywhere near those he so wickedly abused. 'I and fellow local MPs want that exclusion zone widened to cover a greater area to prevent him from linking up with any abusers in his previous depraved network of contacts.'A No 10 spokesman said: 'This is a particularly heinous case, and the Prime Minister has asked the Home Secretary to consider what can be done to remove this individual from the UK.'Prime minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham said: '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.'Nazir Afzal, the chief crown prosecutor who was key to bringing the gang to justice, said the solution 'lies in diplomacy, not legislation', adding that ministers should negotiate with the Pakistani government to persuade Ahmed to leave voluntarily.
