Probation Officer's Stabbing Exposes Safety Crisis in UK Justice System
Tuesday, July 22 last year began as an ordinary day for Natasha Thorpe. The married mother-of-two was looking forward to the summer holidays after kissing her two young children goodbye and heading to her office in Preston, Lancashire, where she had worked as a probation officer for eight years. She had no idea that within hours, surgeons would be battling to save her life, with her nine-year-old son and four-year-old daughter facing the possibility of never seeing their mother again.
A Sudden and Brutal Attack
Just after 2:30pm, career criminal and paedophile Ryan Gee, 35, walked into their scheduled appointment and, without warning, stabbed the 32-year-old four times, leaving her bleeding and gravely injured. "You've done f*** all for me for two years," he shouted before chasing Natasha around the office with two large knives and what she believed was a loaded gun.
Natasha, known as Tasha, admits that during the eight terrifying minutes before armed police arrived, she thought she was "going to die." "I am a mother to two beautiful children and in that moment, the thought of them became my strength," she says. "I fought with everything within me, refusing to let an act of cowardly evil take me away from them."
A Dangerous Offender's History
Gee, who had changed his name from Daniel Godkin after being found guilty of child sex offences, had been in trouble with police since age 17, accumulating nine previous convictions for 17 different crimes. At the time of the attack, he was being supervised for failing to comply with an 18-month suspended sentence for sending obscene photographs to what he believed was a 12-year-old girl.
Despite being given a second chance due to mental health issues including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and ADHD, Gee developed an irrational hatred of probation officers, blaming them for his imprisonment and homelessness. In the weeks before the attack, he made "intimate and graphically violent plans" for revenge, purchasing knives and an imitation BB gun that resembled a real firearm.
The Aftermath and Recovery
Thankfully, after two life-saving operations and four weeks in hospital, including two in intensive care, Tasha pulled through. Last month, Gee was jailed for life for attempted murder, with a judge describing him as "conspicuously dangerous" and ordering he serve at least 16 years before parole eligibility.
However, Tasha suffered four serious stab wounds, including lacerations to her bowel that have left "permanent and irreversible" injuries. Beyond the physical scars, she says her "mind" has become a "frightening and terrifying place" due to psychological trauma. "I see his face every day, as though I am living in a nightmare I cannot escape," she reveals.
Broader Safety Concerns Emerge
The case has thrown a spotlight on the daily risks faced by probation officers and raised serious questions about whether the government is doing enough to protect them. Just four months after Tasha's attack, another probation worker, Cameron Atkinson, was stabbed multiple times at a probation office in Oxford.
Both incidents prompted a national review of security measures, resulting in recommendations for:
- Bleed kits containing tourniquets and trauma bandages
- Personal safety training and body-cams to record meetings
- Lockers for offenders' belongings
- Knife arches and handheld metal-detecting wands
These measures are being piloted in seven selected offices, but the probation officers' union Napo remains concerned that attacks are being treated as "isolated" events rather than systemic problems.
Systemic Failures and Growing Threats
In the last three months alone, seven "all-staff alerts" have been issued about different male offenders deemed to pose a "significant risk of harm" to probation staff. In one recent case, an offender emailed a probation office threatening: "I'm going to kill her" and "I will totally enjoy torturing every bit of her life out."
Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, questions whether the government is doing enough to protect probation officers, particularly as more offenders are released early to ease pressure on overcrowded prisons. "The evidence suggests that HMPPS is perhaps failing to evaluate and understand the totality of risk facing probation staff," he states.
Lawrence emphasizes that without proper recording and preventative action, "serious incidents will continue to be treated as exceptional rather than as foreseeable events. Staff safety must be embedded in health and safety procedures, not addressed retrospectively after harm has occurred."
Family Impact and Moving Forward
Tasha's family has been profoundly affected by the attack. Her husband James, a carpet fitter, reveals that their son now sleeps with a toy gun under his pillow "to protect his family" and has had his "childhood innocence snatched away." Tasha feels "overwhelming guilt" about her children seeing her fragile and close to death in hospital.
"Gee has taken so much from me," she says. "I missed the entire summer holidays, a time that should have been filled with memories. They say you only get 18 summers with your children before they are grown up, and he stole one of mine."
Despite the trauma, Tasha remains determined to rebuild her life. "I owe it to my family – who have unknowingly carried me through my darkest days – to refuse to let the events of that day define me," she adds.
The Ministry of Justice insists violence against probation officers is "utterly unacceptable" and cites the rolling out of "tough new security measures" as evidence they will "do whatever it takes to keep staff safe." However, with probation officers feeling increasingly "over-stretched and fearful," urgent action is needed to address what appears to be a growing safety crisis in the justice system.
