Rochdale grooming gang member, 51, who got girl, 13, pregnant and trafficked a 15-year-old says 'we have not committed that big a crime' as claims it would breach his human rights to be sent back to Pakistan

  • Adil Khan, 51 and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, were served deportation order last July
  • Pair, who were part of notorious Rochdale grooming gang, are appealing order
  • Khan claims to have renounced his Pakistani citizenship, making him 'stateless'
  • He told the tribunal hearing today: 'We have not committed that big a crime'

A Rochdale Grooming gang member who got a girl pregnant and trafficked a 15-year-old said 'we have not committed that big a crime' as he said it would breach his human rights to be sent back to Pakistan.   

Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, have been told they are to be deported from the UK for the public good after both were part of a notorious gang convicted of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls.

The pair are appealing against a deportation order served last July. Khan told an immigration tribunal hearing today: 'We have not committed that big a crime.' 

He claims to have renounced his Pakistani citizenship which would make him 'stateless' and would be a bar to deportation.

Khan got a 13-year-old girl pregnant but denied he was the father then met another girl, 15, and trafficked her to others using violence when she complained.

Adil Khan, 51
Qari Abdul Rauf, 52

Adil Khan (pictured left), 51 and Qari Abdul Rauf (right), 52, have been told they are to be deported from the UK for the public good after both were part of a notorious gang convicted of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls

The Rochdale grooming gang's abuse was dramatised in a BBC programme called Three Girls (above)

The Rochdale grooming gang's abuse was dramatised in a BBC programme called Three Girls (above). Khan told an immigration tribunal hearing: 'We have not committed that big a crime'

He was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and released on licence four years later.

At an immigration tribunal hearing on Tuesday in London, Khan complained about the press coverage of the case.

Speaking via a videolink and through a Mirpuri translator, he said: 'The journalists have made our lives a living hell.

'We are not that big a criminal. We have not committed that big a crime. I'm innocent.

'I'm not committing any crime. The journalists made us out to be big criminals.'

Khan, Rauf and two others were among nine Asian men convicted of sex offences against vulnerable girls in 2012.

For two years from early 2008, girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash was paid to use the girls.

Police said as many as 47 girls were groomed.

Khan and Rauf were among four of the gang with dual UK-Pakistani citizenship, so liable to be stripped of UK citizenship and deported, after then-Home Secretary Theresa May ruled it would be 'conducive to the public good' to deprive the four of the right to remain in the UK.

The pair, along with another man, Abdul Aziz, then fought, and lost, a long legal battle against the deprivation order, losing a final Court of Appeal ruling in 2018.

Rauf spotted shopping for food in Rochdale at a local supermarket in April. He earlier admitted that even he was surprised that there had not been any move to get him out of Britain

Rauf spotted shopping for food in Rochdale at a local supermarket in April. He earlier admitted that even he was surprised that there had not been any move to get him out of Britain

The convicted child trafficker was seen at a local Lidl stocking up on supplies in April this year

The convicted child trafficker was seen at a local Lidl stocking up on supplies in April this year

But the failure to then deport any of the four, almost a decade after their convictions, has heaped public criticism on a number of home secretaries and led to anger in Rochdale, where victims were living alongside their tormentors.

In April this year, Rauf admitted that even he was surprised that there had not been any move to get him out of Britain.

Asked by the MailOnline if he was surprised he had not been deported and speaking for the first time since his presence back in Rochdale was revealed, he replied: 'Yes'.

When pressed again if he expected to be removed soon, the Muslim preacher added: 'No I don't think so'. 

After Rauf was pictured stocking up on food and fizzy drinks in the town, Girl A, the main victim of the grooming gang, said it was a disgrace the Government had failed to act and called for an explanation from the Home Secretary. 

Girl A, now 28 and played by Molly Windsor in the BBC drama Three Girls, told the Sun: 'We were told they would be kicked out of the country.

'Knowing that had been done would have been a huge help for all of us in trying to rebuild our lives. But instead we're still haunted by the paedophiles who raped and trafficked us. Every day we run the risk of bumping into them.' 

One neighbour previously said: 'I'm angry he's still here. 

He had traveled to the supermarket by car from his home which is near the large food store. Asked by the MailOnline if he was surprised he had not been deported, he replied: 'Yes'

He had traveled to the supermarket by car from his home which is near the large food store. Asked by the MailOnline if he was surprised he had not been deported, he replied: 'Yes'

Former Home Secretary Theresa May ruled it would be 'conducive to the public good' to deprive the four of the right to remain in the UK

Former Home Secretary Theresa May ruled it would be 'conducive to the public good' to deprive the four of the right to remain in the UK 

'You see children playing in the street by his home and I don't understand why he hasn't been removed. I don't feel safe with him here.'

Ex-police officer Maggie Oliver, 65, who quit Greater Manchester Police over its lack of action over the scandal, said the sight of Rauf 'made her blood boil'.

She said: 'The victims have been treated disgracefully and he is carrying on as if he's done nothing wrong.

'The public and the victims see the criminal justice system failing them. Sadly it does not surprise me he hasn't been deported.'

Billy Howarth, founder of Parents Against Grooming UK in Rochdale, said: 'We demand an explanation as to why they have not been deported.

'That was one of the promises, that these men would be removed from the country so they would not have to set eyes on them again.

'People are going mad over it, especially the people who live on the same streets with them.' 

And local Labour MP Tony Lloyd said the failure to deport him showed 'grossly unacceptable inaction'. 

Khan and Rauf are now appealing against the decision by current Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured above, on May 23 this year) to deport them

Khan and Rauf are now appealing against the decision by current Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured above, on May 23 this year) to deport them

Khan and Rauf are now appealing against the decision by current Home Secretary Priti Patel to deport them.

Cathryn McGahey QC, representing the Home Office, told the tribunal: 'The facts supporting deprivation are overwhelming.' 

The tribunal heard Khan's reasons for appealing against deportation are on the grounds of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, his right to a private and family life. 

His other ground of appeal was cited as 'statelessness' after he renounced his Pakistani nationality in September 2018 so he could not be returned there.

But this only came a month after he was told a decision had been made to deport him from the UK.

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.

He was jailed for six years and released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence.

He then returned home to his wife and five children. 

A further deportation hearing involving both Khan and Rauf is scheduled for July 1.

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