Government 'looking at every route' to deport grooming leader

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Government 'looking at every route' to deport grooming leaderImage source, GMPImage caption, Shabir Ahmed was the head of a gang which abused girls as young as 12 ByJonny HumphriesNorth WestPublished10 minutes agoA government minister has said officials are "looking at every route" to have the leader of a Rochdale grooming gang deported. Shabir Ahmed was jailed for 22 years in August 2012, but his victims were this week told he was set to be released from prison on licence today. They were also informed, despite earlier promises, that a 55-year-old law barred the government from deporting him.

But today Labour Minister for Skills Baroness Jacqui Smith said the government was "doing everything we can to get this guy out of the country". Ahmed, now 73, held dual British and Pakistani citizenship at the time he was convicted. He was stripped of his British citizenship in court and it was expected that he would be sent back to Pakistan after serving his sentence.

The Details

But his victims have been told that, under the Immigration Act 1971, any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had been here for at least five years cannot be deported. Image caption, Jim McMahon told the he wanted the law to changeLabour MP Jim McMahon, who represents a constituency in Oldham where some of the abuse occurred, earlier told the that the 1971 act was intended to protect Commonwealth citizens who had come to the UK for a better life and who contributed to the country. "It was not designed to give a free pass to a child rapist," he said.

"I think we need to anchor it in what the law was intended to do and not the way it has been abused today. "McMahon said the government wanted to "close the loophole" in the 1971 act, but said legal advice was needed to say whether any change could apply retrospectively and therefore allow Ahmed to be deported. On Wednesday Andy Burnham, who is expected to become Labour leader and therefore prime minister later this month, confirmed he wanted Ahmed to be removed from the country.

'Scared for my safety'Posting on X, he wrote: "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.

What Experts Say

"The rapist, who was known as 'Daddy' by his victims, was the ringleader of a group of nine men who systematically groomed and sexually abused teenage girls. The men gained the trust of their victims offering takeaway food and cigarettes, and later plied them with alcohol before repeatedly raping them. A jury heard Ahmed had treated one victim as a "possession" - and that the girl had been abused on "an almost weekly basis".

One survivor, identified as 'Ruby' to maintain her legal right to anonymity, told Newsnight that she was: "Scared for my safety and my kids' safety.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.