Makerfield MP Andy Burnham last week said: “Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country.” He was talking about Shabir Ahmed, the leader of a gang of rapists in Rochdale who was released last week from prison after 14 years. A former dual British-Pakistani national, Ahmed was deprived of his British citizenship as part of his sentence and has since renounced his Pakistani citizenship, rendering himself in effect stateless.
Mr Burnham said: “Victims must come first.” Rightly so. And he pre-empted his appointment as prime minister by adding: “I will ask the home and foreign secretaries to review all possible options – and they should consider nothing is off the table.”
