Child rapist caught three years after jumping bail
Council leads plan to cut child obesity
JUSTICE has caught up with a convicted paedophile who has been on the run for three years.
Choudhry Ikhalaq Hussain, from Rochdale, was arrested in Pakistan where he had been living in an upmarket apartment.
He fled to he country in 2016 in a bid to avoid serving a 19-year jail sentence. He was given bail to attend a funeral and escaped to Pakistan.
Hussain, 41, was seized in Sangla City in the province of Punjab on Saturday. Proceedings have now commenced to extradite him to the UK.
It follows a joint operation between the Federal Investigation Agency, the Punjab Police and the National Crime Agency.
During the 2016 trial, Hussain, from Mayfield Terrace, Rochdale, fled to Pakistan but was found guilty in his absence and sentenced for raping and sexually abusing a child.
He was convicted of three counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of rape and one count of conspiracy to rape.
It followed a long-running GMP investigation named Operation Doublet - which looked into the sexual exploitation of teenage girls in Rochdale.
Detective Chief Inspector Jamie Daniels, the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) for Op Doublet, said: “As with all offences of this nature, the victim is at the forefront of the investigation and we were determined to track down Hussain for her.
“We were never going to give up on finding him, no matter how much time passed or how far he travelled. I hope this sends a clear message to anyone who thinks they can flee the country in a bid to evade justice - you will be caught.
“I want to thank the Punjab Police, National Crime Agency and Federal Investigation Agency for their excellent work in apprehending Hussain. We will now await a decision by the courts to extradite him back to the UK.”
Ian Cruxton, head of international operations at the National Crime Agency, said: “Hussain’s offending represents the worst of its kind and he wrongly thought he could escape justice by fleeing to Pakistan.
“The NCA is committed to tracking down and arresting child sex offenders wherever they are in the world.
“We deployed our officers in Pakistan and, with assistance from the local authorities, we were able to locate him in Sangla City.”
The UK has been working closely with Pakistan’s authorities since 2017 to secure his arrest and extradition.
Hussain’s arrest is a further operational success ●●Choudhry Ikhalaq Hussain pictured upon his arrest in Pakistan, top left, at the time of his initial arrest, top right, and, above, the apartments where he had been living for the UK-Pakistan justice and accountability partnership established during a visit to Pakistan by British Home Secretary, Sajid Javid visit to Pakistan in September 2018. Hussain’s case will now go to courts, who will decide whether to approve his extradition to the UK. ROCHDALE council is to join 12 other local authorities in spearheading a new initiative to tackle childhood obesity.
The town hall has been chosen to take part in the initial ‘discovery phase’ of the Childhood Obesity Trailblazer programme – which will trial new approaches to combating the problem.
The initiative – funded by the Department of Health and Social Care – will focus on children from more deprived backgrounds, who tend to be less healthy than their more affluent peers.
The council – which was among 102 local authorities to apply – will receive initial funding of £10,000 for the first phase, as well as support to develop a detailed proposal for the full three-year programme.
It could then become one of up to five councils selected as ‘trailblazer’ authorities, and put its plans into action – receiving £100,000 worth of funding and project support each year.
The latest National Child Measurement Programme shows 10.1 per cent of Rochdale’s reception class children are obese – rising to 23.8 pc by Year 6, when children are aged 10 and 11.
In Rochdale, a large proportion of the population live in deprived areas. It is recognised that children living in deprived areas are more than twice as likely to be obese – and more than four times as likely to be severely obese – than those from the most affluent towns and cities.
Coun Sara Rowbotham, Rochdale council’s health chief, said she was delighted the borough had been chosen to take part in the scheme.
“This is something really exciting to celebrate,” she said.
“We have got some good innovative initiatives GULP (Give Up Loving Pop) and Walk a Mile Every Day we have seen some success around all of that – especially children walking to school rather than going in cars.
“This opportunity means we can build on these innovative ideas. We have some really dedicated staff who will put their all into making sure this is a big success.”
Her comments were echoed by children’s services boss Coun Kieran Heakin, who said: “We really do need to do something to combat the obesity epidemic among our children, anything we can do in that respect is very welcome.”
Coun Heakin says children are often given bags of crisps to take to school as a snack, when it’s cheaper to buy six apples