Rochdale Child Rapists Claim ‘We Have Not Committed That Big a Crime’

Rochdale Rapists
Greater Manchester Police
Kurt Zindulka

A member of the infamous Rochdale grooming gang has told a deportation hearing that he and another child rapist have not committed “that big a crime” and that the media has overblown their sexual abuse of young girls.

Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf were both convicted in 2012 on multiple offences related to the sexual exploitation of children as young as 12, yet were released early and have remained in the country despite years of promises from the government to deport them.

The pair of child rapists have launched another taxpayer-funded appeal against their deportation to their native Pakistan.

On Tuesday, Khan told an immigration tribunal in London via video link and a translator: “We are not that big a criminal…We have not committed that big a crime.”

The groomer then attempted to cast blame on the media, saying per PA Media: “The journalists have made our lives a living hell,” adding: “The journalists made us out to be big criminals.”

Despite being convicted of trafficking a fifteen-year-old girl and impregnating a thirteen-year-old, Khan proclaimed his innocence, saying “I’m not committing any crime”.

One of Khan’s victims said in April: “The fact they are appealing their sentences honestly makes me feel sick.”

“I have to live round here and it’s so easy to find me if they want to,” she said, adding: “We are nearly ten years on and me and the other victims are still being let down by the police and the legal system. No one seems to care.”

Khan’s co-defendant, Qari Abdul Rauf was also convicted of trafficking a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and bringing her to an apartment in Rochdale where he and others raped her.

Rauf was sentenced to six years in prison, however, like many criminals in the UK, he was released early after only serving two years and six months behind bars.

Police have said that the 9-member Rochdale rape gang groomed as many as 47 girls.

Representing the Home Office at the immigration tribunal, Cathryn McGahey QC said: “The facts supporting deprivation are overwhelming.”

Khan has cited Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, under which Britain still remains despite leaving the European Union as the treaty is not technically within the bounds of the bloc.

He has also argued that deportation from the UK would leave him “stateless” as Khan renounced his Pakistani nationality in 2018. The tribunal heard that the child rapist renounced his citizenship in Pakistan just one month after he was informed that he would be deported.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective turned rape gang whistleblower said in April that “institutional cowardice” within British courts and police forces has allowed the grooming gang rapists to roam the very same streets where they once preyed on young girls.

“As a criminal with foreign nationality, the judge ordered that [Rauf] be kicked out of the country on his release under current immigration rules, and returned to his native Pakistan… [but] the authorities failed to act, allowing Rauf’s lawyers to cynically deploy human rights regulations to thwart his deportation,” Oliver alleged.

She said that the victims “were let down by the state when the grooming first occurred, and they are still being let down by officialdom’s refusal to uphold the law, keep them informed or respect their human rights.”

“In sharp contrast, Abdul Rauf’s so-called human rights have been revered by the system — just as he and his other gang members have been lavished with expensive legal aid.”

The deportation case against Khan and Rauf will continue on July 1st.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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