A paedophile who groomed and raped a 7-year old child has been stripped of his British citizenship and faces deportation to India.

The man, who can only be identified as RSD, came to the UK from India in 1997 and was granted British citizenship in 2004. But in 2011 he was convicted of 23 counts of sexual abuse of 'a male child within the family'.

The court sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment and placed him on the sexual offenders' register for life after finding him to have groomed and raped the boy between 2003 and 2010.

Now, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind, the Home Secretary has removed his citizenship on the grounds that when he applied to be a UK citizen he lied about the fact he was sexually abusing a child.

The man won his appeal against that decision but a senior judge has ruled in favour of the Home Secretary, upholding the decision to strip him of his passport.

Last night child abuse lawyers welcomed the ruling.

Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at law firm Slater & Gordon, said: "This decision is to be welcomed as a statement of the seriousness with which grooming is viewed by the courts. Any court decision which highlights and reinforces the penalties for this kind of will help to send out the message that perpetrators will face serious consequences."