Rochdale grooming trio's deportation must be matter of urgency, MP says

Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf exploited girls as young as 13

An MP has told the home secretary that the deportation of three members of a gang who abused girls in Rochdale should be a "matter of urgency".

Qari Abdul Rauf, Abdul Aziz and Adil Khan, who were jailed in 2012, have returned to the town despite being stripped of their British citizenship.

Chris Clarkson said he was concerned that they were now among residents "whose trust they so wickedly abused".

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

The three men, who held dual British-Pakistani citizenship at the time of conviction, lost an appeal to retain their rights to stay in the UK in 2018.

'Share my disgust'

The Conservative MP for Heywood and Middleton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he wanted to work with the home secretary to make sure the trio's "victims get the justice they deserve".

In a letter to Priti Patel, he said the men's presence in the town raised "obvious distress and serious concern".

He added that he was sure she would share in his "disgust that these people have been allowed to stay, not just in this country, but in the community whose trust they so wickedly abused".

His letter follows calls from Greater Manchester's deputy mayor Bev Hughes and Rochdale's Labour MP Tony Lloyd to have the men deported.

Mr Lloyd was left "furious" after being told by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland that the Probation Service had "no powers to prohibit the offender returning to live in the area in which they offended or where the victim lives".

Aziz, Khan and Rauf were among a group of nine men jailed for crimes, including rape, against girls as young as 13 in the town.

They were given jail sentences of between six and nine years following a trial in 2012.