Grooming suspects may now face deportation

THREE MEMBERS of a grooming gang face possible deportation to Pakistan after Court of Appeal judges upheld a decision to strip them of their British citizenship.

Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf were among nine men jailed in May 2012 after being found guilty of grooming and sexual exploiting a number of young girls in Rochdale.

In some cases the girls, aged in their early teens, were raped and pimped out to paying customers in Rochdale and Oldham.

Aziz, Khan and Rauf were informed by the Home Office in 2015 that they would be stripped of their British citizenship – which may eventually lead to their deportation.

They each challenged the decision, arguing it amounted to a breach of their human rights, but their cases were rejected by both the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) and the Upper Tribunal.

The FTT said it had “no hesitation” in finding that, given the “grave nature” of their crimes, the consequences to the men and their families did not outweigh the public interest in depriving them of their citizenship.

The men took their case to the Court of Appeal and represented themselves before three judges in July, during which Adil Khan said he was innocent of any crime.

They argued that the previous tribunals did not take enough account of the fact they may be deported as a result of the decision to remove their citizenship.

But, rejecting their appeals, Lord Justice Sales and two other judges yesterday ruled the tribunals made a “proper and lawful assessment” of the likelihood of deportation.