Rochdale grooming victim calls for Priti Patel to deport her abuser who is walking free

A victim of the Rochdale grooming gang has called upon Priti Patel to kick her abusers out of Britain as the ringleader was pictured shopping for fizzy drinks in the town where he abused children nine years ago.  

The main victim of the grooming gang, known as 'Girl A' said it was a disgrace the Government had failed to act and has called for an explanation from the Home Secretary.

Girl A spoke out after Abdul Rauf, 51, was pictured buying food and drinks in Rochdale, where he and other gang members groomed and sexually abused young girls.

Rauf was part of a nine-strong Muslim grooming gang convicted for targeting 47 girls as young as 13 between 2005 and 2008. 

They plied the girls with drugs and alcohol and passed them around for sex. The youngsters were assaulted and raped by as many as five men, one after the other, often multiple times.

The married Muslim father-of-five was released on licence in 2014 he was told he faced deportation to Pakistan because he holds a dual-nationality passport.

However, Rauf remains living freely in Rochdale and is one of three former taxi drivers still fighting efforts to throw them out of the country.

One of the victims has revealed how she had 'never been so scared in all my life' after bumping into her attacker in the town.

Campaigners have warned that the continuing failure to deport the convicted rapists would continue to blight the lives of the girls, now in their twenties and thirties.

Girl A, now 28 said: '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.'

Campaigners and politicians alike have called for Priti Patel to act, with Tory MP Andrew Bridgen charging 'there can be few individuals more deserving of deportation' than convicted groomer Rauf.

The Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England who was instrumental to bringing the men to justice, said there could be 'no reasonable excuse' for the continuing failure to throw the trio out of the country.  

'I feel enormous sympathy for the victims who are reliving the terrible trauma because of the lack of urgency on the part of the Home Office to carry out the deportation order,' he said.

'The message it sends to criminals is that they can move on with their lives while their victims continue to suffer.'

At the end of his trial, Rauf wept in the dock, claiming one of his victims 'looked maybe 30' and saying he made a mistake. He was jailed for six years for trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.  

After he was jailed in 2012, then home secretary Theresa May ordered that Rauf be stripped of his citizenship, along with fellow abusers Abdul Aziz, now 50, and Adil Khan, 51. 

All three are dual nationals, having moved to the UK from Pakistan but gaining British citizenship due to their time in the country. They appealed on the grounds that their family life would be harmed, but in 2018 the plea was rejected.

However, the evil perpetrators of these henous crimes remain at large in the very part of the UK that they carried out their calculated attack on British children. 

After the Mail discovered Rauf was living close to where some of the attacks took place back in 2019, public outcry grew from the government to deport him.

Yet, this weekend he was seen at a store in Rochdale stocking up on food and fizzy drinks in the lead up to Ramadan.

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