Prison early release scheme comes 'at expense of victims', families complain

Figure caption, Watch: 'The worst has happened,' says mother of PC Harper

ByOlivia Ireland and Sima KotechaSenior UK Correspondent

Updated 32 minutes ago

A prison capacity crisis would be likely if fewer prisoners were allowed early release, Justice Secretary Alex Norris has warned, as the government announced revised plans to tackle overcrowding.

Prisoners who committed rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences will be excluded from an early release scheme for England and Wales.

But the mother of PC Andrew Harper told the BBC she was "devastated" to learn that two men who were jailed for manslaughter after her son was killed will still be eligible to have their sentences cut short.

Andy Burnham said he "wanted to go even further", but that would not be possible without the prison system collapsing and putting the public "at much greater risk".

PC Harper, 28, was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road as three teenagers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.

His family previously said they had received a letter from the Ministry of Justice confirming that two of the offenders who killed the officer could be included in the early release scheme.

The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not have been eligible.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020, would become eligible for release after serving half of their sentences.

Last month, the prime minister promised to "review the policy" but PC Harper's mother Debbie Adlam, told BBC Newsnight: "It feels like we're letting Andrew down again" to hear his killer's might still be eligible for release.

"We've been through the justice system, we thought we'd done as best as we could.

"Now we're standing up to fight again... so I just feel really let down, for Andrew's sake as well as ours."

She added that Justice Secretary Alex Norris had called her to explain the situation and apologise.

Later, on BBC Breakfast, Adlam called for more support from the probation service, stressing: "I need to know at the very, very least if they are going to be released that we're kept in mind of what's happening and we are informed".

Other families have also criticised the early release scheme.

Calvin Buckley's partner Frankie Jules-Hough and unborn child died when she was hit by a motorist in May 2023. He told the BBC he was "shocked and disappointed" the killer could be released early under the scheme.

Figure caption, 'It's heartbreaking', says partner of pregnant woman killed

"Our justice is being taken away, I understand there's a crisis, I agree that it needs to be addressed, but not at the expense of victims," he told BBC Breakfast.

Claire Corkery's parents Sue and Tom were killed by a speeding driver in January 2024. She said "it's almost like a tiered system, treating what has happened to us as less serious".

The justice secretary said 5,000 extra releases - on top of the 4,500 prisoners who typically leave prison each month - will take place in 10 batches from October.

But the Prison Governors' Association (PGA) said in a statement it was "unclear" how many prisoners will have their sentences recalculated.

"We don't know if it is tens, hundreds or thousands," it said, adding that the announcement will now put "huge pressure on prison and probation staff to get the work of identifying prisoners now excluded and recalculating their sentences done".

Norris told BBC Breakfast that while he and Burnham would have liked to go further, "we cannot", as he reiterated that the government is trying to avoid running out of prison spaces as soon as October this year.

The justice secretary told the Today programme approximately 1,000 prisoners will now not be released early following the revision to the scheme.

"If we drew it any wider we would have a prison capacity crisis," Norris explained.

Prisoners released on licence, Norris stressed, will be subject to "very significant controls on their lives" and said victims will be consulted about these.

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, PC Andrew Harper was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road

Lissie Harper, PC Harper's widow, said it was "disgusting" that his killers could be eligible for early release.

She said she was "beyond appalled and bristling with anger to hear that Andrew's killers are soon to be free to roam the streets".

And Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Jason Hogg said the decision not to exclude them was "demoralising for all police officers".

The Sentencing Act was amended in January, with the eligibility for early release based on the length of fixed sentence, rather than the type of offence.

The act already excluded some of the most serious and dangerous offenders, such as murderers serving life sentences or those on extended sentences.

But Burnham paused the plans after backlash from survivors.

Announcing the changes on Monday, he said: "I fully understand the anger, anxiety and distress that's been caused. I've heard that loud and clear."

Under the revised plans, rape and child sexual offences will now also be excluded from early release.

This move does not require changes to the existing legislation before October, the government said, though it may make amendments in the future to exclude certain offenders from being released.

Offenders of other crimes serving longer sentences of four years or more will be eligible for release halfway through their sentences rather than two-thirds as had previously been the case.

Those serving less serious sentences could be freed after a third of their time, rather than half.

The changes are due to be phased in, beginning with prisoners serving sentences of less than 575 days, going up to inmates jailed for 12 years or more being eligible for early release in June 2027.

The number of individuals released each time will depend on the make-up of the prison population, which the government says will evolve between now and implementation.

Separately, those who serve the full sentence and are convicted of rape or serious child sex offences will face stronger surveillance after leaving prison, the government said.

This includes 12 months of GPS monitoring and strengthened community supervision.

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, Burnham said he "wanted to go even further" with the changes to the scheme, but that wasn't possible without the prison system collapsing

The government also announced an extra £10m will go to front-line victim support services, including a new national helpline.

Burnham, who became PM on 20 July, made the announcement a day before going on holiday overseas.

He is taking a break from day-to-day duties, but staying in contact with officials, the BBC understands.

After the exemptions were announced, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: "Andy Burnham wants a round of applause for agreeing not to release rapists and child sex offenders. He's not getting one."

Writing on social media, Badenoch said "yet again victims are learning their fate from press releases" and warned "killers, violent offenders, men who have terrorised their partners and more" will still leave prison early.

Reacting to the early release announcement, a prison officer told the BBC that they were "creaking at the seams" and that "delaying the releases until October could mean we simply run out of space".

The Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman, accepted the exemptions will feel "like a real injustice" for PC Andrew Harper's family.

She told BBC Breakfast that Burnham would have allowed for more exemptions but the prison capacity crisis meant this was not possible.

She called on the prime minister to show "proper leadership," adding "we seem to keep going from crisis to crisis and it's always victims and bereaved families that pay the price".

Chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust Pia Sinha said there were "no happy solutions".

"Despite everything that we do, in 2029 we will have a mismatch between supply and demand," she told the Today programme.

"If we keep adding exceptions and exemptions to that, we will diminish the number of people that can be released and we will be back within months to another capacity crisis, which in turn will have another impact on public protection."

Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs criticised the decision to not exclude domestic abuse perpetrators.

"It is critical that no abuser is released in October unless I am confident that victims' safety is not being compromised," she said.