Shabir Ahmed was convicted of 30 child sexual offences and was jailed for 19 years in Liverpool Crown Court in 2012, but just 14 years into his sentence, he is set to be released from prison today.
Raising the case at Business Questions this morning, Mr Waugh told the House that Ahmed had been the ringleader of a disgusting Rochdale grooming gang, convicted of serial rapes against young white girls and a young Asian girl, and that as a joint Pakistani national, he should be deported to Pakistan. Instead, he is to be released back into Rochdale.
The Home Office has said Ahmed will be subject to stringent licence conditions on release, including living in supervised accommodation on a 24-hour basis initially and an exclusion zone centred on Rochdale and Oldham Boroughs, alongside a lifetime place on the sex offenders' register and a ban on contact with children.
He asked the Leader of the House to agree that the Home Office and the Foreign Office should do everything possible to ensure that people like Ahmed are deported and that their victims never have to face them again.
Responding, the Leader of the House, Sir Alan Campbell, said "yes I do", adding that perpetrators of grooming gangs and sexual offences "must face the full force of the law, whoever they are, and wherever they come from". He said Ahmed would be locked up again immediately if he breached the aforementioned strict conditions placed upon him, and confirmed that the government was "exploring every option in this case".
Ahmed, 73, was jailed for 19 years at Liverpool Crown Court in 2012 and was one of nine men convicted in the Rochdale rape gang trial of offences against young white girls and an Asian girl, some as young as 12. Although he was stripped of his British citizenship, he cannot be removed to Pakistan because of a provision in the Immigration Act 1971 that exempts Commonwealth citizens who were ordinarily resident in the UK on or before 1 January 1973.
Mr Waugh has also written to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper. He has urged the Home Secretary to look at closing that loophole so that offenders such as Ahmed can be deported, and has pressed both departments to explore every avenue to remove convicted grooming gang members from the UK.
Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale, said:
"I believe that the Home Secretary should have much stronger powers to deport any grooming gang members convicted of child sex offences.
"Shabir Ahmed raped and sexually assaulted white girls as the ringleader of a notorious Rochdale grooming gang, and repeatedly raped a young Asian girl too. Yet during his trials he showed no remorse for his appalling crimes, instead falsely accusing one judge of being 'racist'.
"Ahmed represents everything that was wrong with how victims were let down by the authorities. The vile paedophile should not be allowed anywhere near those he so wickedly abused and it is some comfort that his licence conditions ban him from entering Rochdale or Oldham boroughs. As a former UK-Pakistani dual national, he should be deported to Pakistan.
"I've written to the Home Secretary to look at the closure of the loophole in the 1971 Immigration Act that prevents the deportation of men like Ahmed.
"Ever since I was elected, I've been pressing the Home Office and Foreign Office to explore every avenue possible to deport these paedophiles from the UK. The victims of these appalling crimes deserve nothing less."
As of 12:45 today, Shabir Ahmed has been released.
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