"he will never be allowed to set foot in the UK ever again."
A convicted member of the Rochdale grooming gang who got a 13-year-old girl pregnant has been permanently barred from returning to Britain after absconding abroad.
Adil Khan had spent more than a decade fighting deportation to Pakistan using human rights legislation.
The convicted paedophile argued he should not be removed from the UK because he was a “role model” for his teenage son.
Alongside fellow abuser Abdul Rauf, Khan renounced his Pakistani citizenship to block deportation attempts, a move that has cost taxpayers an estimated £550,000 in legal fees.
Police confirmed that Khan has now fled abroad. His exact whereabouts are currently unknown, but he will not be allowed to return.
Rochdale MP Paul Waugh, who has long campaigned for the deportation of the pair, said:
“It’s very welcome news that this vile paedophile is no longer in the country.
“His victims, and many of my constituents in Rochdale, will want reassurance that he’s gone for good.
“The public will also want more details of his exact whereabouts, but I’ve been told by the Home Office that he will never be allowed to set foot in the UK ever again.
“Ever since I was elected, I’ve been working hard to get Adil Khan and his fellow abuser Abdul Rauf deported to Pakistan.
“Khan may be gone, but Rauf needs to be gone too.”
Greater Manchester Police said Khan was missing when officers carried out a compliance visit on 21 October. They later confirmed he had left the country.
A police spokesperson said: “We’ve regularly conducted compliance checks with Adil Khan since he was released from prison.
“On our most recent visit on October 21 he was not there and our enquiries have since established he has left the country. We are working alongside the Home Office in our efforts to locate him.”
Khan was one of nine men convicted in 2012 for sexually exploiting 47 girls aged between 13 and 15 in Rochdale between 2005 and 2008. The victims were groomed, given alcohol and drugs, and repeatedly assaulted by multiple men.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison for trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and released on licence in 2016.
Khan, Rauf, and ringleader Abdul Aziz were stripped of their British citizenship by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2015.
However, the men renounced their Pakistani citizenship beforehand, frustrating efforts to deport them.
Aziz, known as “The Master”, escaped deportation after relinquishing his Pakistani passport before the Home Office could act. Efforts to remove Rauf continue.
Khan’s victims have repeatedly expressed outrage that he was allowed to remain in the UK after release.
One woman who was abused by the gang said she was left “shaking” after seeing him shopping in Rochdale in 2020.
Khan continued to deny wrongdoing and sought to downplay his crimes during appeal hearings.
Speaking through a translator in 2021, he claimed:
“We have not committed that big a crime. I’m innocent. The journalists made us out to be big criminals.”
When asked what effect deportation would have on his son, Khan said:
“As you know, the father figure is very important in every culture in the world, to be a role model for the child, to tell him or her right from wrong.”
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