The leader of the Rochdale grooming gang has been released from prison on licence, in a development that has renewed a national debate about the removal of foreign offenders from the United Kingdom. The case has been described as being at the heart of a deportation row.
The man, named in reporting as Shabir Ahmed, is 74 years old. He was jailed for 22 years in August 2012 after being convicted of a number of child sex offences, including rape, in a case that caused widespread revulsion.
According to the account given, his victims were informed this week that he was to be let out on licence, having served 14 years of his sentence. The prospect of his release has caused deep distress to those affected by his crimes.
When he was convicted, he was stripped of his British citizenship. However, he cannot be sent back to Pakistan because of provisions in the Immigration Act 1971, which bar the removal of people who arrived in the UK from Commonwealth countries before 1973.
That legal position has become the focus of political pressure. An amendment to the government's immigration bill is being tabled with the aim of closing the loophole, so that foreign criminals in similar situations could be deported, and some MPs have voiced their support.
The Home Office indicated that he would be returned to prison if he enters Rochdale, and said it was exploring all possible options to remove him from the country. Officials framed the situation as one they were determined to address.
For the survivors, the question of removal is tied to their sense of safety, with one victim said to fear for her wellbeing as the release goes ahead. The identities of the victims are protected, and the case continues to shape debate about how the justice and immigration systems handle offenders of this kind.
As the row over his release intensified, the matter was taken up at the highest level of government. The Prime Minister has asked the Home Secretary to review the case, against a backdrop of calls for the law to be changed so that a man in his position could be deported despite the legal barrier that currently stands in the way.
The intervention followed his release from prison after he had served fourteen years behind bars. The obstacle to removing him remains the same one that has driven the wider controversy: a legal loophole that means he cannot be sent back to his home country of Pakistan, even though he was stripped of his British citizenship when he was convicted.
In Rochdale itself, the assurances offered by the authorities did little to settle the unease of those who live there. Officials had said that Ahmed would be barred from the town and closely monitored, but residents made clear that such conditions fell short of what they wanted to hear about a man convicted of abusing children.
One resident argued that he should either be deported or kept locked up for what he had done, pointing to the lasting harm suffered by the children involved and warning that someone capable of such crimes once could not simply be trusted in the community. The strength of that local reaction has become part of the pressure now bearing down on ministers as they consider the case.