CHILD SEX – A convicted Rochdale grooming gang leader is still living in the United Kingdom nearly nine years after he was ordered to be deported.
Details of What Happened
In a case that shocked the nation, nine Asian men were convicted in 2012 of a range of sexual offences against children including rape, trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Ringleader Qari Abdul Rauf was told he would be packed off to Pakistan after serving a jail term for child sex offences.
But Rauf, 54, is still enjoying life in Britain and spending time with his family.
Pakistan Disowned Him
Although he was stripped of his British citizenship, his deportation has been held up as Pakistan — the other country where he enjoyed dual nationality — reportedly refused to take him back.
When he was Last Seen Publicly
Last week he was collected by a friend and driven off for a trip out, sourced exclusive photo show.
Schoolchildren regularly walk past the £140,000 three-bedroom red brick semi-detached house in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where he lives.
Though he was Jailed …
Former taxi driver and Muslim preacher Rauf was jailed in 2012 for the scandal which was later dramatised in the BBC drama ‘Three Girls’.
He was jailed for six years after being convicted of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under 16 and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
But he was freed on licence in November 2014 after just two-and-a-half years in prison. He then returned home to his wife and five children.
… he was to be Returned to Pakistan
The Home Office told him he would be stripped of his UK citizenship in 2015 and returned to his native Pakistan with fellow abusers Abdul Aziz and Adil Khan.
They lost an appeal in 2018 against the ruling to strip them of their citizenship rights.
Even so, Their Appeals Failed
Rauf and fellow defendant Adil Khan were both ordered to be sent back to Pakistan on their release but their lawyers appealed.
Alongside Adil Khan, Rauf sought to claim in 2022 that his forced removal would be incompatible with his human rights, but that appeal failed.
In August 2023, immigration judges refused another further appeal from Rauf’s lawyers – whose identities have been protected by way of an unusual court order.
