Grooming gang perpetrators and killers, including those responsible for the death of PC Andrew Harper, will be prevented from early prison release under significant changes announced by Andy Burnham.
Certain offenders serving indefinite jail sentences, which were scrapped in 2012, will also be freed through legislation to be introduced by the end of this Parliament, the Prime Minister pledged. From next month, around 5,000 prisoners had been set to be released early under proposals to alleviate jail overcrowding. That number is down from 6,000 after ministers stepped in to exclude rapists and "serious" child sex offenders.
Changes to the early release scheme
Mr Burnham initially resisted pressure to restrict the scheme further after it emerged Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of PC Harper's manslaughter in 2020, would be eligible for release from next year. However, under fresh changes announced today, Sunday August 30, anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded.
Grooming gang perpetrators will also be barred from early release after concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system. Indecent assault, an offence for which some child sex offenders were prosecuted before changes to sexual abuse laws in 2003, will be added to the list of exemptions to the scheme.
Impact on prison population
Mr Burnham said "hundreds" of additional inmates will remain behind bars following the modifications, which will be presented to Parliament through secondary legislation at the start of next week. The Prime Minister explained additional capacity in prisons would be generated by deporting foreign offenders and releasing prisoners serving indefinite sentences under imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs), which were handed to criminals deemed a significant threat to the public between 2005 and 2012.
However, the alterations to IPPs could take years to put into effect and will not form part of the initial measures to alleviate overcrowding. The Prime Minister stated that freeing some individuals on these sentences would require a "very careful" strategy because some will still present a danger of harm.
Review and reaction
A cross-party oversight group will be established to examine how to address the "injustice" of the IPP system, which has resulted in many offenders sentenced when they were young remaining incarcerated for crimes that are "not at the same level of seriousness" as some of those who were previously entitled to early release. Mr Burnham said: "It does need to be done in a very careful way with regard to public safety, national security and all of those issues."
The Prime Minister commissioned a review of the modifications to the Sentencing Act, which is being carried out by Justice Secretary Alex Norris and is scheduled to be published when Parliament returns from summer recess. This came after widespread outrage over the scheme when it emerged that Bowers and Cole could be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences.
The pair were passengers in the vehicle that dragged PC Harper along a country lane after he became entangled in a strap connected to the car as they fled following a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019. PC Harper's mum said she is "grateful" her son's killers will not be released early, but added they "are only back at where we were to start with".
Debbie Adlam told BBC Breakfast: "It's a really mixed bag of emotions, though, because on the one hand we are glad, but we've been brought through the mill, and we are only back at where we were to start with. You know, go back a few months, this is where we were – so we're not making any headway or anything. We are just literally fighting to get back to where we were."
"So, I am glad and I'm really grateful that, you know, this has been the outcome for us. I worry immensely for people that it doesn't happen for, you know, and I think, realistically, the overall system has left some huge gaps still. I just hope that what Andy Burnham says there, that they will be going into a further overhaul over the next few years – it really needs to happen for our sakes."
The chairwoman of the Police Federation representing PC Harper's former force, Thames Valley, also expressed her support for the change. Aileen O'Connor, who launched a petition that garnered more than one million signatures calling for Bowers and Cole to remain imprisoned, said: "We are pleased that the Government – despite what was, frankly, initial reluctance – has eventually listened, seen sense and made the right decision to keep these low-lifes behind bars."
"They had no option. The weight of public and policing opinion against such plans was overwhelming. The fact that more than one million people signed our petition over this was a historic public backing for police officers. The fact 50 chief constables across the UK wrote an open letter calling for the Government to reconsider was unprecedented. The right and proper decision has been made."
