Leader Of Rochdale Grooming Gang To Walk Free Today – But Can’t Be Deported

Amazingly, the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang managed to go 14 years at HMP Leeds without being Ian Watkins’d, and is set to walk free today in just a few hours (July 2, 2026).

Shabir Ahmed, 73, who wanted to be known as ‘Daddy’ to his victims, did 14 years (out of a 40-year sentence) for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls.

So now all that’s left to do is deport him back to Pakistan where he was born, right? Well, no – he actually can’t be deported due to a loophole in the Immigration Act 1971, under which any Commonwealth citizen who arrived in the UK before January 1, 1973, and lived in the country for at least five years is considered exempt from removal.

Which means Shabir Ahead is staying put, even though he’s already been stripped of his British citizenship. Not great news for his victims really.

Still, there is hope – PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham has assured that he wants to see Ahmed booted out of the country, and will ask senior Government ministers to find a way to deport him once he becomes Prime Minister.

Burnham wrote on X: ‘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.’

Back in 2022, when Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester, he called on the Tory government ‘to do everything within the government’s power’ to deport grooming gang members.

Let’s see if he follows through on this. It would be a very big W for him as I think the majority of people both on the left and right would be completely fine with it. What better way to unify the nation than to kick out its worst paedophiles?

In the meantime, what’s stopping the powers-that-be from updating the Immigration Act so that nonces like Shabir Ahmed don’t get to stay in the UK after serving their sentences? Seems like a fairly common sense thing to do? If only we had a parliament or government that was capable of such things…

On Ahmed’s release, a spokeswoman for the Home Office said this week: ‘Our thoughts are first and foremost with the victims of these appalling crimes.

‘On his release he will be on the sex offenders register for life, ordered to stay away from his victims and banned from contacting any child or young person.

‘As well as facing strict curfews and restriction zones, his every movement will be tracked, forced to wear an electronic tag. Should he breach his conditions, he will be immediately locked up.’

For the man who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl on a British Airways flight and claims he mistook her for his wife, click HERE.