ISLAMABAD: The former Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmed has been jailed for five years and six months after being convicted of sexual offences against two children in the 1970s, international and local media reported on Saturday.
The 64-year-old, who quit the House of Lords but retains the title Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, was found guilty at Sheffield crown court in January of serious sexual assault against a boy aged 11 at the time, and twice attempting to rape a girl, when he was a teenager, the Guardian reported.
On Friday, Justice Lavender 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.
“Their statements express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected their lives in so many different and damaging ways.”
The 64-year-old has denied the charges, calling them a "malicious fiction", but a phone recording of a conversation between the two victims in 2016 showed they were not "made-up".
The judge said the offences were "so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified".
Ahmed, who was convicted following a retrial, resigned from the House of Lords in November 2020 after a conduct committee report concluded he had sexually and emotionally exploited a vulnerable woman who sought his help.
The inquiry into his behaviour followed a BBC Newsnight investigation.
There have been calls for him to be stripped of his title. This would require an Act of Parliament but none currently exists.
Ahmed was charged along with his two older brothers, Mohammed Farouq, 71, and Mohammed Tariq, 65, but both were deemed unfit to stand trial. Both had faced charges of indecent assault against the same boy abused by Ahmed.
Though the men did not face a criminal trial, jurors concluded that they did commit the alleged acts after hearing evidence in the case.
Both men were 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.
