How four men from Rochdale child sex ring are still in the UK five years after they were told to leave after fighting deportation with taxpayers’ cash
FOUR men from the vile Rochdale child sex abuse gang are continuing to battle against being deported to Pakistan five years after being ordered out of Britain.
Gang leader Shabir Ahmed, 64, along with Adil Khan, Qari Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz are taking their fight to the Court of Appeal to avoid being booted out - and YOU are paying for it.
Their costly Legal Aid fund is being bankrolled by the taxpayer.
The Court of Appeal has granted permission for four men of the gang, Shabir Ahmed, Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf, to contest their deportation to Pakistan, but a date for the hearing has not yet been set.
A Home Office spokesman said: “All four men have been granted permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal and it would be inappropriate to comment further on ongoing legal proceedings.”
Three times married Ahmed, who acquired British citizenship by naturalisation, has previously ranted against then Home Secretary, now Prime Minister Theresa May, saying: "She says all her trouble is coming from Muslims, yet she's the biggest trouble causer in the world."
Four of the men had their citizenship appeals knocked back earlier this year, having cited human rights laws in their appeal.
Among them, Ahmed, who claimed he had four children living in the UK, told the court he had £83,000 in the bank,
reported that all but two of the men who were part of the grooming gang have been released from prison.
Only Shabir Ahmed, 64, and Mohammed Sajid, 40, who were jailed for 22 years and 12 years respectively, remain behind bars.
In total, police identified and interviewed 47 young girls who were potential victims of the gang, with the abuse lasting between 2008 and 2009.
The Times first revealed the issue of Asian sex gangs targeting girls after an investigation in Rotherham.
It led to an inquiry which found that at least 1,400 children had been exploited in that town.
A report by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board painted a picture of girls as young as 10 being targeted for sexual abuse.
The girls were mainly white British and were targeted by the sex gang, who were predominately British Pakistani.
The victims were vulnerable teenagers from deprived backgrounds who were targeted in “honeypot locations” where youngsters would hang out.
They were bribed into keeping quiet about the abuse with alcohol, drugs, food, money and other gifts.
Many of the girls were physically assaulted and raped by up to five men at a time and were passed around friends or family of the abusers while being plied with booze and drugs.