Overview
- Shabir Ahmed was released on licence on Thursday after 14 years in prison and will live in staffed supervised accommodation under GPS monitoring, curfew and an exclusion zone around Rochdale.
- Officials say the Immigration Act 1971 prevents his deportation because he arrived in the UK before 1973 and met the law’s residency tests for Commonwealth arrivals.
- Ahmed was stripped of British citizenship after his 2012 convictions but the UK and Pakistani authorities have given conflicting accounts of whether Pakistan will accept him for removal.
- Victims say they were not directly notified of his release, report fear for their safety, and local police and probation services have activated strict licence conditions and recall powers.
- The case has prompted cross‑party pressure for immediate diplomatic action or changes to immigration law and has revived scrutiny of past police and council failings in the Rochdale grooming scandal.