Lord Ahmed Rotherham: Disgraced Labour peer jailed for five years for sexual abuse as victim labels him 'a paedophile who feels no shame'

Disgraced Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham has been jailed for more than five years for the attempted rape of a young girl and sexual assault of a boy in the 1970s.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The former politician was convicted in January of sexually abusing two children when he was a teenager.

The 64-year-old, who quit the House of Lords but retains the title Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, was found guilty of two counts of attempted rape and one of buggery.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A woman told a jury at Sheffield Crown Court that Ahmed attempted to rape her in the early 1970s, when the defendant was about 16 or 17 years old but she was much younger.

Lord Ahmed arriving at Sheffield Crown Court to be sentenced after being found guilty of sex assaults against two children more than 40 years ago. The former peer has been found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of attempting to rape a young girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s. Ahmed, 64, was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under 11, also in the early 1970s. Danny Lawson/PA WireLord Ahmed arriving at Sheffield Crown Court to be sentenced after being found guilty of sex assaults against two children more than 40 years ago. The former peer has been found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of attempting to rape a young girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s. Ahmed, 64, was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under 11, also in the early 1970s. Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Lord Ahmed arriving at Sheffield Crown Court to be sentenced after being found guilty of sex assaults against two children more than 40 years ago. The former peer has been found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of attempting to rape a young girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s. Ahmed, 64, was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under 11, also in the early 1970s. Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Ahmed was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under 11, also in the early 1970s.

Read More
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham: MP calling for him to be stripped of peerage over sexua...

Today (February 4) a judge, Mr Justice Lavender, jailed Ahmed for five years and six months.

He told Ahmed: "Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects on the girl and the boy, who have lived with what you did to them for between 46 and 53 years.

A public campaign is underway to strip Lord Ahmed of his title and peerage in the wake of his conviction for the sexual abuse of a boy under 11 and the attempted rape of a girl.A public campaign is underway to strip Lord Ahmed of his title and peerage in the wake of his conviction for the sexual abuse of a boy under 11 and the attempted rape of a girl.
A public campaign is underway to strip Lord Ahmed of his title and peerage in the wake of his conviction for the sexual abuse of a boy under 11 and the attempted rape of a girl.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Their statements express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected their lives in so many different and damaging ways."

The victim of the attempted rapes read her own victim personal statement in court, saying: "An overwhelming feeling of shame remained with me throughout my childhood and early adult years.

"It was a burden I was made to carry, and it silenced me for many years.

"It is now time for me to pass that burden to him - the paedophile who I know feels no personal shame."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She added that Ahmed had however now been "publicly shamed" for his actions.

Ahmed's two older brothers Mohammed Farouq, 71, and Mohammed Tariq, 66, were also charged with indecent assault in relation to the same boy that Ahmed abused.

Both men were deemed unfit to stand trial, but a jury found that they did the acts alleged.

Farouq and Tariq were both given absolute discharges after the judge said the only other two options - a hospital order or a supervision order - would not be appropriate in this case.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A victim personal statement from the male complainant read in court said being sexually abused by the three men had "affected me on a daily basis" and left him unable to show affection to his own children.

He said: "I buried the abuse and carried it with me on my own for years and years.

"This is not about revenge, this is about justice."

In mitigation, Imran Khan QC said Ahmed had "devoted his life to public service" and that his "fall from grace" had been "in the full glare of publicity.”

The judge said that according to legal guidelines, the sentence must be in line with the one that would have been imposed at the time the offence was committed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He jailed Ahmed for three and a half years for the offence of buggery, and imposed two concurrent sentences of two years for each of the attempted rapes.

Ahmed resigned from the House of Lords in November 2020 in the wake of a conduct committee report which found he sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman who sought his help.