“Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects"
Former Labour peer Lord Ahmed has been jailed for five years and six months for sexual offences against two children in the 1970s.
The 64-year-old was found guilty of serious sexual assault against a boy aged 11 at the time and twice attempting to rape a girl when he was a teenager.
Nazir Ahmed’s two older brothers, Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq, were also charged with indecent assault in relation to the same boy abused by Ahmed.
Both men were deemed unfit to stand trial, but a jury found that they carried out the acts alleged.
Farouq and Tariq were both given absolute discharges after the judge said the only other two options – a hospital order or a supervision order – would not be appropriate in this case.
Prosecutor Tom Little QC said Ahmed claimed the allegations were a “malicious fiction” but a recording of a 2016 phone conversation between the two victims showed they were not “made up or concocted”.
Mr Justice Lavender told Ahmed:
“Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects on the girl and the boy, who have lived with what you did to them for between 46 and 53 years.
“Their statements express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected their lives in so many different and damaging ways.”
The female victim said: “An overwhelming feeling of shame remained with me throughout my childhood and early adult years.
“It was a burden I was made to carry, and it silenced me for many years.
“It is now time for me to pass that burden to him – the paedophile who I know feels no personal shame.”
The male victim said being sexually abused by the three men had “affected me on a daily basis” and left him unable to show affection to his own children.
He added: “I buried the abuse and carried it with me on my own for years and years. I feel shame because of what these men did to me.
“This is not about revenge, this is about justice.”
In mitigation, Imran Khan QC said Lord Ahmed had devoted his life to public service and that his “fall from grace” had been “in the full glare of publicity” including a campaign for him to be stripped of his title.
Ahmed was jailed for five years and six months after the judge said that according to legal guidelines, the sentence must be in line with what would have been imposed at the time the offence was committed.
The judge also adjourned the case for six weeks to determine whether Ahmed could pay prosecution costs.
Lord Ahmed was appointed by Tony Blair. He resigned from the Labour party in 2013.
He quit the House of Lords in November 2020 after it was found he sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman who sought his help.
This resulted in him becoming the first peer to be recommended for expulsion, but he resigned before this could be implemented.
On February 3, 2022, the male victim told BBC Newsnight that Ahmed should be stripped of his title.
He said: “That title is bestowed upon people that have got some honour, some dignity, and he’s got none of that.
“I’m demanding the government take that peerage away from him.”
As the title is created by letters patent from the Queen, the House of Lords confirmed it has no power to remove it and legislation would therefore be needed to strip Ahmed of it.
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