A victim of the Rochdale grooming gang has been given extra police protection after the release of the gang’s leader Shabir Ahmed.
Ruby, who was 12 when Ahmed’s group began abusing her, has been given an ‘urgent response marker’ by Greater Manchester police (GMP), which allows for rapid deployment to her home.
Officers are treating her as a ‘high-risk victim’ after they were told ‘Ruby does not feel safe with Ahmed in the community.’
Ahmed, 73, who wanted to be known as ‘Daddy’ to his victims, left prison on Thursday after 14 years in jail for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls.
The terms of Ahmed’s release are understood to be that he must initially live in secure accommodation and cannot enter an ‘exclusion zone’ centred on Rochdale.
There is widespread anger among survivors and politicians that Ahmed cannot be deported because of niche law.
Ruby previously spoke out to say she was scared for the safety and her kids over his release.
There have since been talks with GMP officers about her security and she has been given an app to download on to her phone to contact police should she feel in danger.
Ruby was threatened at gunpoint in 2011 by someone linked to Ahmed’s gang, who said he would ‘shoot her’ if she went to police.
She bumped into one of her abusers, Ahmed’s friend Adil Khan, in a Rochdale Asda in 2018, after he was released from prison.
Maggie Oliver, a police whistleblower who helped expose the handling and cover up of the Rochdale grooming gang, said: ‘I’ve known Ruby for 15 years and supported her through everything.
‘And in 15 years I’ve never seen her so frightened, feeling so angry and powerless and triggered and actually outraged.