Mahmood to close loophole blocking deportation of Rochdale grooming gang ringleader

Home secretary expected to amend Immigration Act but hurdles remain if Pakistan continues to refuse to take Shabir Ahmed back

Shabana Mahmood is planning to change the law so the government can move towards deporting the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang.

The home secretary is expected to amend the 1971 Immigration Act, which prevents Shabir Ahmed from being removed from Britain.

However, the government will still face difficulties, as Pakistan has so far refused to take Ahmed back.

Ahmed, 73, was released from prison last week after serving 14 years of a 22-year sentence for 30 child rape offences. He cannot be returned to Pakistan, despite having been stripped of his British citizenship.

The Immigration Act exempts people, such as Ahmed, from deportation if they came to Britain before 1973 and have lived in the UK for at least five years.

Mahmood is expected to say on Monday that officials have found a way to close the loophole without jeopardising the right to remain of other Commonwealth citizens, including the Windrush generation from the Caribbean.

Mahmood’s announcement will coincide with the second reading of the immigration and asylum bill.

A government source said: “We are confident that there is a fix to deal with the domestic side of it but it is now down to the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] negotiations with Pakistan that will decide if [Ahmed] stays in the UK.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a junior Home Office minister indicated the government could consider emergency legislation to deport Ahmed.

Tory former minister Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley and Ilkley, told the Commons that changes to the law would probably get support from across parliament.

Moore said: “When will the minister be bringing forward this legislation, so that we in this House can vote on it and make sure that this individual that has caused heinous crimes across Rochdale is deported?”

Home Office minister Alex Norris replied: “I can only be as clear as to say that all of those options are on the table. He raises important ways too.

“But it is never quite as easy, I think, as he’s put there. But I know of his motivations, I think I share them myself, and I’m sure at the right moment he’ll be keen to support us in our work.”

Pakistan has refused to take Ahmed and two other freed ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang back because they have renounced their Pakistani citizenship. All three have also been stripped of their British citizenship because of their crimes.

The UK disputes that Ahmed renounced his citizenship decades ago, as Pakistani officials claim, pointing to evidence that he did not go through the full and proper process to disavow his birthright. A No 10 spokesperson has confirmed it has raised the issue with officials in Islamabad.