Former British MP Lord Nazir Ahmed found guilty of sex offences

LONDON: A court convicted former British parliamentarian of Pakistan origin, Lord Nazir Ahmed, of sexual offences against two children in the 1970s.

According to reports, the court found Lord Ahmed guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy and the attempted rape of a girl. The Sheffield Crown Court heard the repea­ted sexual abuse that occurred in Rotherham, Yorkshire, when he was a teenager.

The 64-year-old had denied the charges and has said that he has been targeted. Judge Justice Lavender will decide later when Lord Ahmed will be sentenced.

During the trial, prosecutor Tom Little told the court Nazir Ahmed had attempted to rape the girl in the early 1970s, when the defendant was aged 16 or 17 but she was much younger. The attack on the boy, who was aged under 11 at the time, also happened during the same period.

Little said Lord Nazir Ahmed claimed the allegations were a “malicious fiction”, but a phone recording of a 2016 conversation between the two victims showed they were not “made-up or concocted”.

The woman’s call was prompted by an email from the male victim saying: “I have evidence against that paedophile,” the jury previously heard.

Lord 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.