Shabir Ahmed has lived in the UK long enough to qualify for an exemption in the Immigration Act 1971

A grooming gang leader cannot be deported back to Pakistan despite being stripped of his British citizenship due to a loophole in legislation.

Shabir Ahmed is set to be released from prison on Thursday but is unable to be deported due to a provision in the act that exempts Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 from removal.

The 73-year-old was jailed back in 2012 for multiple rape and child sexual offences in Rochdale.

However, due to the policy in the Immigration Act 1971, Ahmed has lived in the UK long enough to qualify for the exemption.

Ahmed was identified as one of the nine men from Rochdale and Oldham who were found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants in the Heywood area of Rochdale.

He was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court in August 2012 of two rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

The jury was told that Ahmed had treated his victim as a "possession" using her for his own sexual gratification and that the girl had been abused on "an almost weekly basis".

During his appearance in court, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar was forced to have Ahmed removed from the dock before passing sentence as he was persistently interrupted by the defendant.

He shouted: "It's all lies. It's all concocted by the police."

It was previously revealed Ahmed was employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham council.

A review found officers had failed to disclose to his employers there had been multiple concerns raised about him and his arrest for the sexual assault of children.

Paul Waugh, Labour MP for Rochdale, told The Telegraph: "This depraved paedophile should have been deported to Pakistan years ago.

"The people of Rochdale want him booted out of the country and it’s simply unacceptable that the government of Pakistan are refusing to take him back. If the Citizenship Act needs to be amended to do that, ministers should look at doing just that."

A spokesman from the Home Office said: "Our thoughts are first and foremost with the victims of these appalling crimes.

"Ahmed’s horrific crimes were at the heart of the grooming gangs scandal that represents one of the darkest moments in our country’s history. The most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists and must face the full force of the law.

"On his release he will be on the sex offender’s register for life, ordered to stay away from his victims and banned from contacting any child or young person.

"As well as facing strict curfews and restriction zones, his every movement will be tracked, forced to wear an electronic tag. Should he breach his conditions, he will be immediately locked up."

London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley are to be the first towns and cities investigated by the grooming gangs inquiry.

The scandal-hit probe is looking at how grooming gangs operated in England and Wales and the actions of police, councils, health services, social care services and schools.

The announcement confirmed the capital and parts of West Yorkshire will join Oldham, in Greater Manchester, in being the first areas to face so-called local investigations, where serious failures have been identified in the response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

The inquiry said it will look "in detail at what happened in a specific place, including how children were identified and protected, how organisations responded, how victims were treated, and what needs to change".

The Mayor of London welcomed the grooming gangs inquiry’s focus on London, saying "marking your own homework is not good enough".

Sir Sadiq Khan said it was important "no stone is left unturned" as the inquiry sets about its work.

The Labour mayor previously came under fire for suggesting there was no indication of rape gangs operating in the capital and that the issue in London was different from other areas.

Sir Sadiq said: "It’s really important that we have the victims and survivors at the fore of our minds."