Priti Patel pledges to deport Rochdale grooming gang members

UK home secretary Priti Patel has pledged to deport the Rochdale sex-ring members who abused dozens of girls as young as 13, reported The Sun.

Patel's remarks came after a victim asked her to deport abusers as the ringleader was pictured shopping in Rochdale.

With tougher immigration rules, she will be able to kick out foreign criminals without getting bogged down in lengthy and costly legal battles, the report added.

“The home secretary is straining every sinew to get these men deported. They are some of the most complex cases the Home Office has seen — but a new immigration plan will help make it easier," The Sun reported quoting a source.

Under Patel’s proposals, the Home Office could boot out the likes of Abdul Rauf, 51, who served six years in jail for trafficking and sex with girl, 15.

According to reports, at least one of the members renounced his Pakistani citizenship during his trial.

The source added: “They are good at playing the game, which has added to the complexity.”

Some of those convicted are still in the UK and back in their old stomping ground around Rochdale and Oldham — despite deportation orders in 2015.

Under the new plans, convicted criminals facing deportation would need to state their case upfront in one go, with the offender having to prove their circumstances have changed.

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

According to reports, 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 trial judge condemned the gang for their 'callous, vicious and violent' attacks motivated by 'lust and greed'. Their crimes were dramatised in the BBC's Bafta-winning Three Girls.

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.

In 2019 the Mail discovered Rauf living close to where some of the attacks took place.