A mother of two who was repeatedly raped by her own father has warned Andy Burnham not to allow her abuser out of jail early. Carole Higgins, who spent 35 years seeking justice, spoke at a press conference this morning and revealed that her attacker is due for early release.
Victim's Ordeal and Warning
Ms Higgins was subjected to rape repeatedly from the age of 13 to 16 by her own father during the 1980s. She told attendees that she had been notified by a letter that Labour's early release scheme would see her attacker back on the streets just a quarter into his sentence. Elliot Appleyard was finally locked up in 2019 for the historic offences, despite Ms Higgins having first gone to the police in 1985. The early release means he could be freed just seven years into a twenty-year sentence.
Ms Higgins said: "Every minute taken off his prison time is a minute added to my fear and anxiety, and a trigger for my complex PTSD." She warned that she would need to be "forever looking over my shoulder and wondering if he is there whenever I step out of my door."
Political Pressure
In a rebuke to the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, she warned: "It is outrageous that the government is minimising the early release by saying it is only a small amount of time off the sentence. Would they minimise it if it was their child who had been raped by a grown man?" She added: "He did the time, he should serve the time. Do not let him out early."
The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure to end the early release scheme, which has already seen thousands of criminals let loose part-way through their sentence. Mr Burnham has said he will pause the scheme, but his Conservative rival Kemi Badenoch has said that is not enough.
Badenoch, speaking at the conference this morning, said: "If we are going to get justice for these women, then many of these people should stay in jail." Her party is calling for emergency legislation to end the early release of rapists and killers. Doing so would require a recall of Parliament, which is currently in recess.
Alan Mak MP told the Daily Express: "Kemi is right to challenge Andy Burnham to show he is serious about stopping the early release of rapists, paedophiles, and other serious offenders by bringing in emergency legislation before September 2, the date when Labour’s Sentencing Act comes into force."
