Rotherham Ex-Labour Peer Jailed for Child Sex Offenses Fails to Overturn Conviction

A former member of the Labour Party and peer, Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, saw his appeal to overturn a conviction for serious sexual misconduct in the 1970s rejected. In 2022, he was convicted of attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 11 while he was a teenager in South Yorkshire. He was initially sentenced to five years and six months in prison, but this was reduced to two years and six months by three appellate judges, who found that the original sentencing by Mr Justice Lavender was flawed. Lord Ahmed, who has since retired from the House of Lords, attended the court for the appeal hearing held on Tuesday. His conviction comprised two counts of attempted rape and one of sexual assault. A woman provided testimony stating that Ahmed tried to rape her in the early 1970s when she was significantly younger and he was around 16 or 17. He was also convicted of a serious sexual assault against an under-11 boy, also in the early 1970s.