A CONVICTED child sexual abuser from Rochdale has been permanently banned from returning to Britain after secretly leaving the country.
Adil Khan, 55, who was one of the ringleaders behind a group of men convicted of abusing young girls in Rochdale, is understood to have left the UK last month, reported the Telegraph. Police discovered he was missing during a routine check at his home.
Khan, who was jailed in 2012 for eight years for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl who became pregnant, had been fighting deportation to Pakistan for nearly ten years. He had argued that deporting him would breach his human rights, saying his teenage son needed him as a father figure.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that officers found he was no longer living at his registered address. “On our most recent visit on October 21, he was not there, and our inquiries have since established he has left the country. We are working closely with the Home Office to locate him,” said a police spokesperson.
The Home Office has since issued a deportation order permanently banning Khan from travelling or returning to the UK. He is believed to have fled to Europe, though his exact location is unknown.
Khan’s disappearance comes as talks between the British and Pakistani governments over his deportation were said to be in the final stages. For years, Pakistan had refused to accept him back after he renounced his Pakistani citizenship to avoid removal.
Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, said: “If this vile man is no longer in the country, that’s very welcome news. My constituents and the survivors deserve reassurance that he’s gone for good.”
Khan and another man, Qari Abdul Rauf, were part of a group of nine men convicted of sexually exploiting 47 vulnerable girls, some as young as 12, between 2008 and 2010. The men targeted girls by offering them alcohol, food and drugs before sexually abusing them.
Following their convictions, both Khan and Rauf were stripped of their British citizenship and ordered to be sent back to Pakistan. However, both men renounced their Pakistani nationality days before their court appeals, claiming deportation would make them stateless.
While Khan has now left the UK, Rauf, 56, remains in the country and continues to challenge deportation attempts. Pakistani authorities are still in discussions with British officials on the final arrangements needed to take him back.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with the victims and survivors of these terrible crimes. Adil Khan is a dangerous offender who has fled the country and will never be allowed to return.”
