Rochdale child rapist extradited from Pakistan

Hussain was convicted in his absence for the rape of a teenager in Rochdale

A man who fled the country to avoid a 19-year jail sentence for raping a teenage girl in Rochdale has been extradited from Pakistan.

Choudhry Ikhalaq Hussain, 42, was convicted with nine others who committed serious sexual offences against young girls in the town.

Hussain, of Mayfield Terrace, went on the run during his 2015 trial after attending a family funeral.

He was arrested last year in the Punjab and has now been flown home.

Hussain was held in prison while extradition hearings took place.

He was jailed in his absence for 19 years by a judge at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court for rape, sexual activity with a child and conspiracy to rape.

Hussain spent a year in a Pakistani jail after being arrested in January last year

It followed an investigation by Greater Manchester Police, code-named Operation Doublet, which looked into the sexual exploitation of teenage girls in Rochdale.

Most of the offences took place between 2004 and 2008 and involved victims who were aged 13 to 23.

A teenage girl, raped by all 10 men, contacted police after the 2012 convictions of nine Asian men for grooming white girls in the town.

Det Ch Insp Jamie Daniels said: "Hussain is a sexual predator who mistakenly thought he could flee to another country to live the good life, while his victim was forced to deal with the consequences of his vile actions and robbed of justice.

"His apprehension demonstrates that when it comes to pursuing perpetrators of child sexual exploitation, we will hunt them across the globe if necessary."

Police arrested him at an address in Pakistan following an international man-hunt

Dr Christian Turner, from the British High Commission in Islamabad, said Hussain's extradition "shows there is no escape for those who flee from the law".

He added the rapist "will finally face jail for his terrible crimes".