Child groomer cites Churchill in UK stay bid
A MEMBER of a grooming gang spoke of Winston Churchill as he told an immigration tribunal he had ‘come to the court for justice.’
Adil Khan, 51, is battling against deportation alongside Qari Abdul Rauf, 52.
The pair were part of the notorious Rochdale gang convicted of serious sex offences back in May 2012.
Following their release from prison, they have been told they are to be deported from the UK for the public good.
Khan made his final plea against being sent back to Pakistan in court yesterday.
It follows a long legal battle against deportation – with the pair mounting multiple legal challenges and appeals, spanning several years, on the grounds that deportation would interfere with their human rights.
Khan, who is not legally represented and spoke through a Miripuri interpreter, was asked if he had anything to say in support of his case. He replied: “First of all we have come to the court for justice.
“Whatever happened in the crown court, there was a lot of public, media, etc. This court is not about that matter, it is an immigration thing.
“In our childhood we used to hear something about this country when there was the Second World War going on, at that time Sir Winston Churchill was the prime minister.”
Khan went on to say Churchill ensured British justice will prevail, adding: “So my plea is also this; if our courts are furnishing justice, I don’t have to say anything.”
Khan, then in his 40s, impregnated one girl, refusing to accept the child was his until a DNA test was done. He then met another girl who he trafficked to others for sex, using violence when she objected.
Earlier, Khan said he only knew 10 words of English so could not groom anyone and denied being part of the grooming gang, blaming racism for his prosecution.
Judge Charlotte Welsh told the hearing the tribunal must consider Khan and Rauf’s level of integration into British life, both culturally and socially, and his contribution to society.
Rauf, a father-of-five, 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. Failure to deport any of the grooming gang has led to anger in Rochdale, where victims were living alongside their tormentors and has heaped public criticism on a number of home secretaries.
For two years, from 2008, a gang of men in Rochdale preyed on girls as young as 12, plying them with alcohol and drugs before they were gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash was paid to use them. As many as 47 girls were groomed.
The appeal hearing against both men was adjourned until Monday next week.