Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced a fast-tracked plan to reduce the number of prisoners released early, with the aim of preventing the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers. The plan will be presented to Parliament in early September.
New exemptions to be announced
Mr Burnham said the government will announce new exemptions next month, which will "create more headroom within the prison system" and "reduce the number of people released early" while preventing "early release altogether" for the most serious offenders. The statement comes amid mounting pressure from the police and the family of PC Harper, who was killed in 2019, to block the release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020.
PC Harper's death
PC Harper was fatally injured when he got caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and was dragged down a country road as the killers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.
On Monday, Downing Street said it was "not possible" to exempt "one or two offenders" convicted of manslaughter from the early release scheme. However, on Tuesday the government said it will set out how it will exempt PC Harper's killers, along with other serious criminals, when Parliament returns in September.
Prime Minister's statement
Issuing a statement on Facebook, Mr Burnham said: "I understand the depth of public concern about the potential early release of those involved with the killing of PC Andrew Harper – and I share it.
"I fully appreciate the anguish of Andrew’s family and, more broadly, of all those victims and their families who may see those who caused them such harm not serve their full sentence. It is incumbent on me as Prime Minister to do everything within my power to minimise that possibility. And I am determined to do so.
"I have spent recent days considering in depth all of the issues involved and the range of advice I have received. I have been pushing for further progress. I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more. As a result, I have asked the Justice Secretary to fast-track the development of a plan for presentation to Parliament early next month to create more headroom within the prison system.
"It will be based on a range of options including the three strands of further work I asked him to initiate last week: increasing the rate of removal of foreign national offenders from the prison estate to their country of origin; finding an early resolution to the long-running injustice of IPP sentences, which could allow for the release of lower-risk prisoners; and making greater use of the entire prison estate including using the female estate for male offenders."
Reducing early releases
He continued: "I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC Harper, prevent their early release altogether. In advance of the Justice Secretary’s proposals being presented to Parliament, we will seek to engage other political parties in discussions with the aim of gaining the widest possible public and political consensus on the approach being taken.
"Murderers have always been exempt and our actions have already ensured that rapists, serious child sex offenders and those convicted of grooming offences will never be released early. And today I have shown a determination to go further.
"However, I recognise that, even with all these changes, there will be concerns from many victims about who will still be released early for other offences. I am doing all I can, but it is simply not possible to prevent all offenders from being released early without the prison system collapsing."
Around 5,000 people, down from 6,000, were expected to be released early under sentencing changes after some exemptions were announced as part of an urgent review of the scheme to tackle jail overcrowding. Exemptions were made for those convicted of rape, serious child sex offences and grooming offences.
