Rochdale grooming gang members make deportation appeal

Khan (left) and Rauf were jailed in 2012 for a string of sexual offences

A man who was part of a grooming gang which preyed on vulnerable young girls has told an immigration tribunal the men did not commit "that big a crime".

Adil Khan was one of nine men jailed in 2012 for multiple offences in Rochdale.

He and fellow gang member Qari Abdul Rauf are appealing against deportation orders served in July 2020.

The pair, who have dual UK-Pakistani citizenship, lost a legal battle against the orders in 2018, but have yet to be deported.

Speaking via a video-link and through a translator at the hearing in London, Khan complained about the press coverage of the case against the men and said journalists had "made our lives a living hell".

"We are not that big a criminal, we have not committed that big a crime," he said, adding: "I'm innocent."

'Statelessness'

Khan, who was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and released on licence four years later, got a 13-year-old girl pregnant and then trafficked a 15-year-old girl to others using violence when she complained.

Rauf also trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her.

He was jailed for six years and released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence.

The tribunal, which is considering the pair's appeal against Home Secretary Priti Patel's decision to deport them, was told Khan's reasons for appeal are on the grounds of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, his right to a private and family life.

He is also appealing on the grounds of being "statelessness", following his renunciation of his Pakistani nationality in September 2018.

However, the hearing was told that move was made a month after he was told he would be deported.

Cathryn McGahey QC, representing the Home Office, told the tribunal that the facts supporting deprivation were "overwhelming".

A further deportation hearing is scheduled for 1 July.

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