Mubarek Ali: Keep Telford child sex gang leader in prison, say 200,000
A petition set up to keep a Telford child sex gang ringleader Mubarek Ali behind bars has gained more than 200,000 signatures.
It was launched by Ashley Ray to stop Ali being released. Ali was jailed for his part as one of the leaders of the Operation Chalice grooming gang.
Mr Ray, from London, said he had now passed it to a “survivor” of child sexual exploitation, who will deliver the petition to the government.
He said he has been involved in getting justice for victims of child sexual exploitation after having met someone who survived a similar gang.
Ali, 34, of Regent Street Wellington, is set to be freed from prison in November, after serving about five years behind bars.
Mr Ray said: “The petition has done really well and I’ve now handed it over to the survivors. They are going to take it to the government. They will be trying to speak to the justice secretary and Theresa May.
“It’s about time the government acknowledges there is a massive problem.”
He said the petition was “about protecting survivors and victims”.
Ali’s release has been triggered automatically as, with remand, he is technically half way through the custodial element of his 22-year sentence.
He was given a sentence of 22 years – 14 years’ immediate custody and eight years on licence for seven offences including child prostitution and trafficking. As his actual jail term was only 14 years of the total sentence, and because he served time in custody on remand before his sentence, his November release is automatic at the halfway point of his sentence. But if he commits any offences while on licence, he is liable to be recalled to prison for the full 22 years.
Telford MP Lucy Allan has written to the Justice Secretary to ask why a law, brought in around April 2015 to prevent the release of child rapists and terrorists being automatically released has not been implemented in this case. She says his case is so serious it should have gone before a parole board. Instead, he will automatically be released in November.
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The Department of Justice has not commented on the case, saying it cannot comment on individuals but under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, most prisoners must be automatically released at the halfway point of their sentence.
It emerged last week that Ali will not be allowed to return to the Telford or Shrewsbury area upon his release.
He will be under “a stringent set of licence conditions”, according to a briefing released by HM Prison and Probation Service.
The service has said its contact with the victims affected by the grooming gang snared under Operation Chalice is “ongoing” and that the views of those affected would be considered when imposing appropriate licence conditions.
