To be so upset that the leader of the Rochdale grooming gang has been allowed to stay in the UK!

[vermicello]

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ringleader-rochdales-infamous-sex-grooming-24336978

Those poor girls. It is like they have been abused twice, first by him and his fellow groomers and secondly by the UK justice system, police and social workers. It is sending them a big message that their right to feel safe and protected is not a concern. I can't imagine how traumatic it must be to know you could bump into your abuser at any time and nothing can be done about it. Our justice system is a disgrace.

To top it all off, he has apparently received hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal aid courtesy of taxpayers. I really don't want my taxes wasted on people like him. So upsetting and infuriating!

The "Human Rights Act" can go to hell. If someone commits a serious crime like this and has citizenship or ancestral links to another country, of course we should deport them.

Ancestral links? Why on earth would the other country agree to take a criminal because of some "ancestral links". Would we accept a criminal with ancestral links to Britain?

You are entitled to an appointed barrister regardless of circumstance for your criminal defence. You may be aware from the news that barristers are striking, because the average junior criminal barrister earns an average of £12,500 a year for the first years of their career and is paid a (very low) flat fee per case regardless of how long or complicated it is. Legal aid barristers don’t have the time or resources to do their best work for their defendant, hence why anybody who can pays for their own defence.

You're wishing for a slippery slope. The disgusting thing is that they are free, not what country that is.

If you are in custody you are.

The first response on this thread was spot on.

Exactly this. Every single human alive has 'ancestral links' to central Africa, if you go back far enough. OP you've allowed yourself to be whipped up into a frenzy by racist reporting. He's a British citizen, so is entitled to a defence and is entitled to stay in this country for the rest of his life.

I'm always curious about those who are disgusted by people having access to legal aid when accused of a crime. So you think some shouldn't be allowed to defend themselves? Who decides whether or not they're entitled, then? You? The Daily Mail?

The "ancestral link" comment is terrifying, though I did spend my childhood scared the BNP would send me to a place I'd never seen.

This is chilling on so many levels.

'Ancestral links'? Wtf? Now far do you propose we go? If your great great granny was not British, does that count?

As for abolishing the HRA, be very careful what you wish for.

The justice system needs an overhaul with regards to sentencing/how it treats rape/SA survivors, and sentences the perpetrators, definitely. But abolishing the HRA and not affording British citizens their rights, wherever their granny was born, is not the answer.

I don't disagree with you, but interesting how men are treated differently. He's a British citizen (as well as having the right to Pakistani citizenship) and he is treated as a Brit cit. Shamima Begum, on the other hand..............

To be clear, I don't like either of them - they're both horrible people who have shown no remorse, but we do need to decide how we treat "citizens" and stick to it.

He's a British citizen. Of course he should stay in the UK!! We would be living in a very scary country if he was deported. Any justice / incarceration/ remedial action / punishment has to be done in the UK.

Bit of a word soup there, sorry!

Sorry but in any instance where there is a conflict of interest between the rights of a criminal and the law abiding public, I side with the law-abiders. Every time.

I am v upset that he has got only 4 years. As a S Asian I have lots to say about this case. But perhaps keep it for another thread.

@vermicello do you long for the days when we could just deport everyone to Australia and dump our problems on the rest of the world?

This person is a British citizen, they should be dealt with in Britain.

The thing that makes me angry is that the victims were ignored for so long - luckily the human rights act allows for the victims of crime to make the Police take action. Take away our human rights and there will be far more victims left without justice.

I don't disagree with you, but interesting how men are treated differently. He's a British citizen (as well as having the right to Pakistani citizenship) and he is treated as a Brit cit. Shamima Begum, on the other hand..............

I agree with you and thought of her when I posted before.

An awful lot of criminals in Australia would be able to be deported back here as they can definitely claim ancestral links!

One of the problems is that he was allowed to renounce his Pakistani citizenship before the decision to depot him was made. It would be a good idea to prevent those under investigation of a serious crime from changing their citizenship status just as they can be prevented from venturing abroad to escape justice.

As u understand it he's a British national so there's nowhere to deport him to.

He's played the game by giving up his dual nationality, but you can't deport him to a country where he doesn't have nationality.

It's nothing to do with the HRA.

Well, they always have the choice to change professions if they don't like the pay and conditions. It's their human right after all!

You've been believing what the Mail tells you, which is always bad policy. Absolutely NO-ONE receives hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal aid. Their lawyers will receive payment at strictly limited legal aid rates which are way under private rates. Everyone should be entitled to a proper defence, the day we start refusing it because of what the defendant has been charged with is the day we start descending into fascism.

As a PP stated if "ancestral links" were taken to the extreme we would all be at risk of being sent back to Africa. I guess we can all agree that the sensible option would be to limit the term where you can be deported to three generations or 75 years, whichever is greater.

Is he going to prison? I'd rather he was in prison here than loose on any other streets. I'd rather he was in prison there than here though.

Why are they more traumatised because he can't be deported? There are hundreds of thousands of criminals who can't be deported, he is no different from the others.

As PP said, it would not be just to inflict a harsher punishment on him because of his skin colour. Research by the Home Office has shown that most grooming gangs are actually white, but as there is never an option to deport them and strip them of citizenship, there is no reason why it should be different here.

On that basis we would have to accept virtually every American, Australian and New Zealander who commits a serious crime because they have ancestral links to the UK. Conversely, we would be deporting everyone with Viking ancestry back to Scandinavia. How do you imagine that would work?