Rochdale Sex Grooming Pair Lose Appeal Against Deportation to Pakistan

Grooming gang members Adil Khan (left) and Qari Abdul Rauf, pictured in 2010 after their arrest in Rochdale, England. Greater Manchester Police

Two men who were convicted of being part of a gang that groomed and sexually exploited under-age girls in the town of Rochdale, near Manchester, have lost their appeal against being deported to Pakistan.

Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, are being deported for “the public good” after their arguments failed to impress judges at an immigration tribunal in London earlier this year.

Judges Charlotte Welsh and Judge Siew Ling Yoke released a 31-page legal ruling on Wednesday which said Khan had shown a “breath-taking lack of remorse” and there was a “very strong public interest” in removing Rauf too.

The decision was made in August but was only made public this week.

Khan—who was jailed for eight years for conspiracy and trafficking for sexual exploitation after he fathered a baby with a 13-year-old girl—told the tribunal in June his son would be robbed of a “role model” if he was sent back to his native Pakistan.

Lawyers for the pair also pointed out the gang’s leader, Abdul Aziz—who was referred to as The Master—has been told by the Home Office he will be allowed to remain in Britain.

Khan, Rauf, and Aziz were among nine members of the Rochdale gang jailed for child sex offences in 2012.

Sentencing the gang Justice Gerald Clifton said they were driven by “lust and greed” and told the men they had treated the girls “as though they were worthless and beyond respect.”

The then Home Secretary Theresa May said it would be “conducive to the public good” for them to be stripped of their UK citizenship and deported but they have fought it every step of the way.

Aziz renounced his Pakistani citizenship in July 2018, days before the Court of Appeal ruled he could be stripped of his UK citizenship and deported to Pakistan. But because he had renounced his citizenship the Home Office decided he could not be sent back to Pakistan.

Two months later Rauf and Khan renounced their Pakistani citizenship.

Political Correctness Blamed for Ignoring Grooming Gangs

The Rochdale case, along with similar Asian grooming gangs in Rotherham, Oxford, Telford, and Huddersfield who targeted white girls often in care homes, led to accusations that politicians, social workers, and senior police officers turned a blind eye to the abuse for fear of being accused of being racist.

The new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has previously called for the National Crime Agency to set up a special taskforce to tackle grooming gangs.

In August, during the Conservative Party leadership contest, Sunak told GB News: “For too long, we just haven’t focused on this issue. It’s a horrific crime. A horrific crime affecting not just girls in a few places, it’s far more pervasive across the country than we all realise. We all know the reason that people don’t focus on it is because of political correctness. They are scared of calling out the fact that there is a particular group of people who are perpetuating these crimes. I think that’s wrong, and I want to change it.”

PA Media contributed to this report.