MEMBERS of a paedophile gang have received more than £1million in taxpayer-funded legal aid to fight deportation.

The four, from Pakistan, were among nine men jailed in 2012 for sexual offences, including rape, against underage girls in Rochdale.

2 Rochdale child sex abuse ringleader Shabir Ahmed was allowed to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights from jail Credit: PA:Press Association

Ringleader Shabir Ahmed, 65, Abdul Aziz, 42, Adil Khan, 43, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 44, claimed a move to strip them of their ­citizenship in order to deport them breached their human rights.

They were granted legal aid to fight their case and Ahmed — who made girls he raped call him “Daddy” — was allowed to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights from jail.

The beast, who got 22 years, tried to claim his convictions were a conspiracy by police and his jury to “scapegoat” ­Muslims. He lost.

Alleged stalling tactics at appeals by the four were described as “weakening the rule of law” by Mr Justice Bernard McCloskey, the UK’s most senior immigration judge.

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Aziz, Khan and Rauf finally lost their fight last August when judges upheld a decision to strip them of citizenship.

But they and Ahmed have so far received £1,003,783 in legal aid, The Sun’s Freedom of Information requests reveal.

MP David Davies said: “Their crimes were despicable. They should not have received any of that money. No doubt it will go straight into the pockets of their human rights lawyers.”

2 Shabir Ahmed (top left), Adil Khan (top right), Abdul Aziz (bottom left) and Qari Abdul Rauf were handed £1million in taxpayer-funded legal aid to fight deportation to Pakistan Credit: PA:Press Association

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