UK to change law so ringleader of Rochdale grooming gang can be deported

The home secretary will change the law so the freed ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang can be deported, the BBC has been told.

As first reported by the Telegraph, Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out on Monday how she plans to amend the 1971 Immigration Act which currently stops Shabir Ahmed being removed from the UK.

Ahmed, 73, was jailed for 22 years in August 2012 for a number of child sexual offences including rape. He was released on licence last week.

Known to his victims as "Daddy", Ahmed had dual British-Pakistani citizenship but was stripped of the former following his 2012 conviction.

This week his victims were told that Ahmed could not be deported to Pakistan because the 55-year-old law bars his removal.

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