Qari Abdul Rauf, 55, served two-and-a-half years of his six-year sentence for leading a Rochdale grooming gang
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Former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has warned Sir Keir Starmer risks being "all soundbites and no substance" if he fails to deport a grooming gang leader still living in Britain.
Speaking to GB News, Danczuk recalled campaigning for one of the gang's leaders, Qari Abdul Rauf, to be deported to Pakistan back in 2014.
Danczuk explained: "I was the MP for Rochdale from 2010 to 2017, and I campaigned for this individual to be sent back to Pakistan. I campaigned heavily. Theresa May was the Home Secretary at the time, and I lobbied her personally about this very issue.
"In 2014, we got a ruling that he should be sent back. He appealed it using legal aid, so the taxpayer were funding him to appeal this issue. In 2018, we got a ruling again that he should be sent back to Pakistan, but then he ripped up his Pakistani passport, and they're not accepting him on that basis. That can't be right."
Simon Danczuk hit out at Keir Starmer's failure to deport a convicted grooming gang leader still living in Rochdale
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Qari Rauf, 55, was released in 2017 after serving two-and-a-half years of his six-year prison sentence, and was stripped of his dual British citizenship following his conviction.
Neighbours of Rauf in Rochdale have become increasingly concerned with the former gang leader, claiming he is "throwing parties" at his home, located in the same area where gang victims were targeted.
Delivering his verdict on the Government's failure to deport Rauf, Danczuk said: "This rape gang leader is laughing at British justice and at the victims, there's no doubt about that. He got two-and-a-half years, that's how long he served for raping children. Let that settle in.
"That's the little amount of time that he actually did, and he's still out there, he's living in the community. The victims are traumatised by the fact that he's around in the community, and the neighbors are not happy about it."
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Highlighting the "legal loophole" many offenders use to avoid deportation to Pakistan, Danczuk told GB News that Britain "must put pressure" on Pakistan to aid such deportations.
Danczuk fumed: "He's got police protection, and yet the victims are not even thought of by the authorities. This can't be right in terms of British justice. We have to put pressure on Pakistan.
"We need David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, to be sent to Pakistan and say 'if you don't set these individuals back, we will stop all foreign aid and we will stop visas, there will be no travel between the two countries until you take this person back'."
Noting the Prime Minister's eventual call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, Danczuk cautioned that the Labour leader now faces a "test" on whether he will take decisive action.
Danczuk told GB News that Labour is 'not taking the issue seriously' if they fail to deport Rauf
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Danczuk told GB News: "We shouldn't be bargaining on this. Starmer in recent days has been talking tough on this very issue, and well, the test is here.
"If Starmer doesn't send this paedophile back to Pakistan, then Starmer is all soundbites and no substance. If this Labour Government is serious about tackling this issue, then this will be the test.
"Return this particular paedophile, and if you don't, you're not taking the issue seriously."