An October 2024 parole board hearing found the grooming gang ringleader to be a 'real and ongoing risk', three MPs noted

Shabir Ahmed must be banned from the entire North of England, area MPs have said.

Three Labour MPs have urged Justice Secretary David Lammy to extend the Rochdale grooming gang ringleader's exclusion zone to cover the North West of England, Yorkshire, and "at the very least, the whole of Greater Manchester".

Ahmed, who has been electronically tagged, is subject to geographical exclusion zones in Rochdale, where he conducted most of his crimes and Oldham, where he lived.

The Pakistani-born sex offender had his British citizenship stripped in 2016, but the Government has not been able to deport him after serving 14 years of his 22-year sentence.

Now Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham West, Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale, and Elsie Blundell, MP for Heywood and Middleton North have wrote a letter raising "serious concerns" about the "robustness" of the safeguards enforced on Ahmed.

The three MPS noted an October 2024 parole board hearing, which found Ahmed to be a "real and ongoing risk" because of his "network of associates" and attitude towards women and girls.

On Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announced changes to the Immigration Act 1971, which currently blocks his deportation.

This is because he is a Commonwealth citizen who arrived in Britain before 1973 and has lived in the UK for at least five years.

The three MPs met with the Probation Service earlier this week, with officials explaining the "typical" measures used to monitor compliance, the letter read.

Concerns were also raised about the lack of communication of Ahmed's release to local MPs, victims and survivors, instead learning through media reports.

"This must change in future, even if doing so requires legislative change," the MPs added.

They have also demanded what "material differences" changed between the October 2024 parole board hearing, which determined Ahmed could not be released, and his 2026 release.

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The three MPs were told there was no lawful way to extend his detention beyond his custodial sentence because of the statutory release provisions applied to his sentence.

The Labour trio said: "Many members of the public will find it difficult to understand how an offender assessed as posing an ongoing and serious risk to the public can nonetheless be released automatically without completing the full custodial term of their sentence.

"If this is the effect of the current statutory framework, Parliament should consider whether that framework remains appropriate for offenders who continue to present a serious risk to the public."

Ahmed's release had also raised concerns ahead of the implementation of Labour's Sentencing Act 2026.

The Sentencing Act 2026 will release thousands of sex offenders and killers into the public earlier after serving just half of their sentence.

The prison reforms were inspired by US state Texas and will be made to free space in an overcrowded prison system.

The MPs have asked if the Government plans to revisit the "operation of the progression reform" for child sex offenders.

Women who victims of grooming gangs were contacted on Tuesday that the men who abused them could be released early.