A convicted Rochdale grooming gang ringleader continues to live freely in the town where he committed his crimes, nearly a decade after being ordered to leave the country.
Qari Abdul Rauf, 55, has been working as a takeaway delivery driver in Rochdale, sparking concerns among local residents about the possibility of him encountering his victims during deliveries, the Daily Mail has reported
Rauf walks around the town “like he owns the place”, according to his neighbours, despite being ordered for deportation to Pakistan in 2014 after serving part of his prison sentence for raping and trafficking young children.
Rauf was among nine members of a grooming gang jailed in 2012 for raping and trafficking young children across England, after which he served two-and-a-half years of a six-year prison sentence before he was released in November 2014
Upon his release, Rauf was stripped of his UK citizenship and ordered to return to Pakistan.
One mother living near Rauf told reporters: “Nobody can believe that monster is still here, after what he did to those young girls.”
She expressed particular concern about his work as a delivery driver, saying: “I can’t believe he was delivering takeaways to peoples’ houses, just imagine it – you are one of his victims and you open the door to get your meal and he’s there.”
She revealed that Rauf had been using a takeaway delivery app last year, with the company’s sign visible on his car.
“What if he popped up on the doorstep of a girl he abused?” the neighbour added.
“My daughters used to go into his house to play with his girls, when they were also little,” another resident told the Mail.
“He should not be back in that house, this street. He should not be in this country. Why has he not been kicked out?” they added.
Although he lost appeals against deportation in both 2020 and 2022 at Immigration Tribunal hearings, Rauf has remained in the UK with his lawyers arguing that he is “stateless” after renouncing his Pakistani citizenship.
They claimed his deportation would breach his right to private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Another neighbour revealed that while Rauf’s daughters travelled to Pakistan for their weddings, he stayed behind.
“His daughters got wed over there and then came back, but their husbands didn’t come back with them,” the neighbour said.
“I see him walking around like he owns the place. There are kids all around here and nobody wants that paedophile around here,” another local said.
Other members of the Rochdale grooming gang have similarly managed to avoid deportation, including Adil Khan, 54, who has also used the European Convention on Human Rights to remain in the country.
Abdul Aziz, known within the rape gang as ‘The Master’, has likewise succeeded in dodging deportation following his release from prison.
Like Rauf, Aziz abandoned his Pakistani citizenship and was subsequently permitted by the Home Office to stay in the UK.
