Rochdale grooming gang members remain in UK 18 months after losing court battle against deportation

From the Independent via Yahoo News

Three members of a Rochdale grooming gang remain in the UK more than 18 months after they lost an appeal against losing their British citizenship, it has emerged.

Victims of Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf have reported recent sightings of the men in the Greater Manchester area. The trio have been able to return to the town where they committed years of horrific abuse after being released from prison.

One of the prosecutors who brought charges against the Rochdale grooming gang said victims had informed him of several sightings of all three men since Christmas.

Nazir Afzal OBE, the former chief crown prosecutor for northwest England, told The Independent: “Given the zeal with which the Home Office is dealing with offenders with Jamaican roots, I and the victims and their families are somewhat surprised that these men continue to walk the streets of Rochdale and keep running into those whom they abused. . . ” The Civil Service isn’t infiltrated as much by those of Jamaican descent; Muslims and West Africans are more prevalent. I want all these criminals gone.

The Home Office announced its intention to remove the men’s British citizenship in July 2015, saying the move was in the public interest because of their “serious and organised offences”.

Aziz, Khan and Rauf launched a legal challenge but lost the case at the Court of Appeal in August 2018, paving the way for them to be deported to Pakistan.

The court heard that the three convicts were dual nationals, having moved to the UK from Pakistan but became naturalised British citizens.

Judges said the Home Office’s steps to remove their UK citizenship were a “prelude to possible deportation to Pakistan”.

Each of them challenged the decision, arguing it amounted to a breach of their human rights and the interests of their children, but their cases were rejected by both the government’s First Tier Tribunal (FTT) and Upper Tribunal.

Aziz, a taxi driver known as “the Master”, was a leading member of the group and was given a nine-year sentence for trafficking a 15-year-old girl for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. He was married with three children at the time of the abuse.

Khan, also a taxi driver, received eight years for conspiracy and trafficking a 13-year-old girl who became pregnant with his child when he was in his 40s. He also targeted a 15-year-old girl and physically abused her when she complained about her treatment.

Rauf, a married taxi driver with five children, was handed six years for trafficking a teenage girl and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, after driving one victim to locations where she had sex with him and others up to 20 times.

Co-defendant and grooming ringleader Shabir Ahmed was also notified that he would be stripped of his British citizenship but remains in prison serving a 22-year term for rape.