Vigilantes take to streets as grooming gang ringleader released
Not strictly true from the Telegraph. Billy Howarth is not ‘Citizen Vigilante’; the group he founded is called Parents Against Grooming UK. He says if the Telegraph are caling him a vigilante he’s past caring. His priority is the girls. “I just want the girls to be and feel safe . I’ll do whatever it takes to make it so”
Vigilantes are taking to the streets of Rochdale after a Pakistani grooming gang ringleader was released from prison.
A group organised by local campaigner Billy Howarth will patrol the area in the coming days, with police remaining on standby.
Shabir Ahmed, 73, who was convicted of 30 child rape offences as part of the grooming gang, was released on Thursday and cannot be deported despite being stripped of his British citizenship.
Mr Howarth said the paedophile’s victims were so terrified by his release that they were not leaving their homes.
He said: “He wasn’t just a child rapist – he is the devil incarnate. He must be kept in jail or deported – no questions asked. What I’ve managed to do is get a s–tload of Rochdale lads together as rapid response… [Residents] will be protected.”
On Thursday, Ruby, one of Ahmed’s victims – whose name has been changed to protect her identity – said she was living in fear. I am scared for my safety and my children’s safety,” she said. “The main ringleader, who is well known in Rochdale, Oldham and Middleton, is being released from prison. Even if he is not in those areas, he still knows people and could contact them, which makes me feel unsafe.”
Police are ready to apprehend Ahmed if he returns to the area in breach of his licence conditions, which are monitored by the probation service.
However, he cannot be deported because of a loophole in the Immigration Act 1971, which exempts Commonwealth citizens who arrived in Britain before 1973 from removal. As a Pakistani who arrived when Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth, Ahmed has lived in the UK long enough to qualify for the exemption.
That has left the residents of Heywood, the town near Rochdale where much of the abuse took place, living in fear for their children.
The Home Office said it was considering closing the loophole and “doing everything possible” to deport foreign offenders.
However, there are concerns that even if the law were changed, Pakistan would be likely to resist his return. It has refused to take back two of Ahmed’s co-ringleaders in the nine-man Rochdale grooming gang who were also stripped of British citizenship.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been forced to spend thousands of pounds enforcing exclusion zones to prevent Ahmed from entering Rochdale or returning to Oldham.