Ex Labour peer Lord Ahmed to face retrial on minor sex abuse charges

Shubham Ghosh

Former Labour peer Lord Ahmed is set to face a retrial after the Court of Appeal overturned a decision to halt proceedings against him in connection with child sex abuse charges.

The 64-year-old leader from Rotherham went on trial under his real name Nazir Ahmed in February and denied abusing a young boy and girl in the 1970s. Judge Jeremy Richardson QC stopped the trial at Sheffield Crown Court and stayed the case as an abuse of process.

The Court of Appeal announced on Wednesday (23) that it had overturned the ruling. Lord Justice Fulford said at a brief hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, “The case will now be retried at a future date in the crown court.” He also said the proceedings should continue before a different judge.

Lord Ahmed, who retired from the Parliament in November last year, was charged with attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14 and raping another boy under 16. He has denied all the accusations.

Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq, brothers of Lord Ahmed, were also accused of indecently assaulting a minor boy but were considered unfit to plead and faced a trial of the facts at the time of the previous criminal proceedings.

Announcing the decision to reinstate the criminal proceedings, Lord Justice Fulford said: “On 17 June 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed the order of (Judge Richardson), made on 8 March 2021, staying the case against Nazir Ahmed, Mohammed Tariq and Mohammed Farouq as an abuse of process.”