A gang of four Pakistan-born men jailed for child sex grooming and rape offences could be deported after they lost a legal battle to hold on to their British citizenship today.
Shabir Ahmed, Adil Khan, Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz now face the prospect of being deported to Pakistan, the country of their origin.
The men had appealed against moves by the UK government to strip them of their British citizenship due to their crimes but their claims were dismissed on all grounds by Justice McCloskey, president of the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
Loss of citizenship is the first stage in the deportation process in the UK.
The actual deportation is expected to take some time as the ruling said they could apply for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on legal grounds.
The four men were among nine men from Rochdale and Oldham, in Greater Manchester, who were jailed in 2012for exploiting girls as young as 13.
Ahmed, the ringleader, was convicted of two rapes, trafficking, conspiracy and sexual assault. He is currently serving a maximum imprisonment of 22 years.
Khan, Rauf and Aziz were found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
They were given jail sentences of between six and nine years but have since been released on licence.
The Pakistani-origin men had acquired British citizenship by naturalisation.
At an earlier hearing, Ahmed had alleged that his conviction was the result of anti-Muslim bias among the jury.
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