Adil Khan got a 13-year-old girl pregnant
A member of the Rochdale gang that groomed dozens of underage girls for sex reportedly pleaded with a judge not to be deported - because his son needs a "role model" to tell him "right from wrong".
Adil Khan, 51, and 52-year-old Qari Abdul Rauf are due to be sent back to Pakistan for the public good after being convicted in May 2012.
Since being freed from jail, the pair had launched a legal challenge to avoid being deported, after their British citizenship was revoked, claiming it would breach their human rights.
In a final hearing on Wednesday, a judge asked Khan how his son would be impacted if he was sent back to Pakistan.
According to a report by
Sky News, Khan said, through an interpreter: "As you know, the father figure is very important in every culture in the world, to be a role model for the child, to tell him or her right from wrong."
He reported added that his family did not want him to return because his infamy would be bad for their business.
Khan's abuse included getting a 13-year-old pregnant and using the threat of violence to pass a 15-year-old around to other men.
Rauf, a father-of-five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her in his taxi to secluded areas and to a flat where he and others would abuse her.
Nine men in the grooming gang, plied girls as young as 12 with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped them at various locations, sometimes "pimping" them out for money, for two years from 2008. As many as 47 girls were abused.
In April, Greater Manchester Police apologised to three victims for failing to protect them, admitting the force "should have done much more".
A report also revealed this week that the ringleader of the Rochdale gang, Shabir Ahmed, had
once been employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council despite multiple concerns being raised against him.
Ahmed is serving a 22-year jail sentence.
Khan and Rauf's deportation hearing is due to resume Thursday.
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