Lord Ahmed: Ex-Labour peer to face retrial on child sex abuse charges

A former Labour peer accused of child sex abuse will face a retrial after the Court of Appeal overturned a decision to stop proceedings against him.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham went on trial under his real name, Nazir Ahmed, in February and denied abusing a younger boy and girl in the early 1970s.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC halted the trial at Sheffield Crown Court and stayed the case as an abuse of process.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal announced it had overturned the ruling.

At a brief hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Lord Justice Fulford said: "The case will now be retried at a future date in the crown court."

He added: "These proceedings should continue before a different judge."

Lord Ahmed, who retired from the House of Lords in November 2020, was charged with two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14 and raping a boy under 16.

He denied all the charges.

His brothers Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq were accused of indecent assault of a boy under 14, but were deemed unfit to plead and faced a trial of the facts during the previous criminal proceedings.

Announcing the court's 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."

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