Rochdale foster monster says UK can’t deport him because ‘son needs a father figure’

Adil Khan, 51, told a judge it was “very important” that his son have a “father figure” after being told he and other members of the Rochdale grooming gang would be deported to Pakistan

A member of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang told a judge he shouldn’t be deported because his son needed a role model.

Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, were told they were to be returned to Pakistan for the public good after both were part of a gang convicted of a series of serious sex offenses in May 2012.

Since they were released from prison, they have engaged in a lengthy legal battle against deportation – involving multiple legal challenges and appeals – spanning several years on the grounds that deportation would harm their human rights.

Khan appeared at a final deportation hearing on Wednesday to argue that he should not be deported.

Judge Charlotte Welsh asked him how his son might be affected if he were deported from the UK.

Khan, speaking through a Miripuri interpreter, replied: “As you know, in every culture in the world, the father figure is very important to be a role model for the child, to tell him or her right and wrong.”

Khan also claimed he is not wanted by his family in Pakistan because his notoriety would be bad for the business they own.

The failure to deport one of the grooming gang has sparked anger in Rochdale, where the victims lived alongside their tormentors, and publicly criticized a number of Home Secretary.

Khan got a 13-year-old girl pregnant but denied being the father, then met another girl, 15, and forcibly took her to others when she complained.

Rauf, a father of five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, drove her to remote areas to have sex with her in his taxi and took her to an apartment in Rochdale, where he and others had sex with her had.

Beginning in 2008, a gang of men in Rochdale hunted girls as young as 12 for two years, doling them with alcohol and drugs before raping them in rooms above takeaways and taking them in taxis to various apartments where cash was paid use them.

Police said up to 47 girls were being cared for.

The appeal hearing against both men was adjourned until Thursday morning.

In April, three victims of the grooming gangs received “significant” damages and a personal apology from the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police.

The women met with top officer Stephen Watson this afternoon to personally apologize for police failure when they were repeatedly raped and sexually abused by male gangs in Rochdale as children.

Mr Watson apologized for his force’s failure to protect them and investigate the perpetrators, which happened under previous police chiefs including Sir Peter Fahy and his predecessor Michael Todd.