Calls for peer found guilty of child sex abuse to be stripped of title

‘There’s no crime more horrific than paedophilia and no punishment too severe,’ says critic

(AFP via Getty Images)

Disgraced former Labour peer Nazir Ahmed should be stripped of his title after his conviction for the attempted rape of a girl and the sexual assault of a boy, according to a Conservative MP.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham was convicted on Wednesday of two counts of attempted rape and one of buggery.

Sheffield Crown Court heard he carried out the attacks when he was 16 or 17 in the 1970s, but the girl was much younger.

Alexander Stafford, the Rother Valley MP who has launched a petition calling on justice secretary Dominic Raab to withdraw the peerage, described the title as “an insult to his victims”.

“There is no getting away from the fact that this paedophile is in possession of a peerage and this is absolutely and categorically unacceptable,” he said.

He tweeted: “As I said in the Commons last year: ‘There is no individual crime more horrific than paedophilia and there is no punishment too severe for the perpetrators of these heinous acts’.”

Ahmed, 64, was created a life peer in 199 bu resigned from the House of Lords in 2020 after an investigation recommended he be expelled.

However, only an Act of Parliament with royal assent can strip him of his title.

A former Labour councillor in Rotherham, he left the party in 2013.

Mr Stafford, who has previously spoken out against child sexual exploitation, said: “The focus now needs to be on the victims of this sick abuser and their decades-long fight for justice.

“I thank them sincerely and wholeheartedly for their bravery and persistence and I welcome this verdict.”

He added: “I will be speaking to my colleagues in the Department of Justice to ensure that this individual is not allowed to continue to hold a peerage, which would be an insult to his victims.”

During the trial, a woman told the jury that Ahmed tried to rape her.

Ahmed, who was both a Labour and non-affiliated peer throughout his 22-year parliamentary career, denied all the charges.

The judge, Mr Justice Lavender, bailed Ahmed to appear for sentencing on 4 February.