Two ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang ‘may remain in the UK forever’ despite being ordered out of the country 11 years ago.
Qari Rauf, 54, and Adil Khan, 53, were convicted, along with seven other men, of grooming and gang-raping 47 girls as young as 12, and ‘pimping’ them out to other predators.
The two taxi drivers were told by a judge and then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012 they would be sent back to Pakistan once their prison sentences were completed in 2014 and 2016.
But they so far remain in the UK, with the Greater Manchester police detective who helped uncover the ring believing they will ‘never be deported’.
Maggie Oliver told TalkTV: ‘I actually had a face to face meeting with both Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman about a month ago and at that meeting was Ruby who had been raped by Adil Khan.
‘I asked them this very question and they wouldn’t comment. But for me it’s not a party political issue, this is a problem that existed whether it was Labour or Conservatives in power.
‘I personally believe that these two abusers will remain in this country forever.’
Both men have argued deportation would strip them of their right to family life set out in the Human Rights Act, as they have wives and children in the UK.
Rauf even claimed he wanted to remain in England so he could be a ‘role model’ to his son.
Both have also renounced their Pakistani citizenship, meaning deportation would leave them ‘stateless’.
Ms Oliver said: ‘At the time they went to prison they didn’t have British citizenship, they had Pakistani citizenship.
‘When they were released they were advised that in order to play the system they had to also become British citizens. So they obtained that after their release from prison.’
Read More: Two ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang ‘may never be deported’