Plans for early release of serious offenders to be reviewed after backlash

Plans to release killers, rapists and sex offenders early from jail in September are to be reviewed, Andy Burnham has said, following a backlash from bereaved families and victims’ organisations.

The prime minister said he wanted to make sure that “everything has been looked at again” before a fresh tranche of about 6,000 offenders were freed on tags into the community.

New laws were passed under Keir Starmer’s government to ease a looming overcrowding crisis that ministers said could seize up the criminal justice system in November.

Burnham’s intervention comes after it emerged that the killers of PC Andrew Harper may be eligible to be released.

The former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has been among campaigners calling for limits on the release of offenders who have committed violent acts against women and girls.

Speaking in Bath, Burnham said he would examine the plans with the justice secretary, Alex Norris. “I will review the whole of this policy. We did not invest in the prison estate when we should as a country, going back a decade or so ago, when it was clear that there was going to be pressure. That has created an unacceptable situation now.

“But I want to assure myself that everything has been looked at before this policy proceeds, and I can give that assurance that every single part of this I will look into with the justice secretary. I can’t say that I can change the policy completely, but I will look at it in detail before we go further forward,” he said.

Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the vehicle and both 17 at the time, were sentenced to 13 years in custody for manslaughter but may be eligible for early release under the new Sentencing Act.

Harper responded to the quad bike call just hours after he had been due to begin his honeymoon. His widow, Lissie Harper, successfully campaigned for legal changes, called Harper’s Law, to bring in harsher sentences for the manslaughter of emergency workers on duty.

In a statement, she said: “When I fought for Harper’s Law, I was supported not only by the Conservative government of the day but by the Labour party too. They pledged to support our cause and agreed that those who kill emergency workers should face tougher sentences because some crimes are so grave they demand meaningful punishment.

“That cross-party support helped make Harper’s Law a reality. Today, it feels forgotten.”

Under the act, some serious offenders will be eligible for release halfway through their sentences rather than two-thirds of the way through. Offenders convicted of less serious crimes will qualify for automatic release after serving half their sentences rather than two-thirds, provided they have not seriously breached prison rules.

The plans were spearheaded by the former justice secretary David Lammy, who said that without them the criminal justice system was at risk of collapse. The bill was drawn up and introduced to parliament by Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary.

Unlike emergency measures under which tens of thousands of prisoners were released in the early months of the Labour government as prisons ran out of space, the Sentencing Act includes no exemptions for prisoners convicted of serious crimes, domestic abuse or terrorism.

The scheme has faced fierce opposition from victims’ groups as well as opposition parties and some Labour MPs. This month the victims commissioner, Claire Waxman, and the domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, joined Phillips in a coordinated intervention to tell the government the scheme would put abuse victims at risk.

Lammy, who has been replaced at the Ministry of Justice by Norris, said the government had to press ahead with the scheme because of an impending capacity crisis in prisons that could make them nearly full within six months.

Burnham’s comments were welcomed by groups working with victims.

Phillips told the Guardian it was important that “proper systems” were put in place to assess risk and involve victims. “There is a chance to radically change how victims are considered in the system and to improve victims of violence against women and girls’ end-to-end experience of the justice system,” she said.

Ciara Bergman, the chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: “Obviously there are significant challenges facing our government, including how overcrowding and under-resourcing is going to be managed, but the solutions to these challenges cannot come at survivors’ expense.”

Katie Kempen, the chief executive at Victim Support, said the review was encouraging. “This review must urgently fix the fact that most victims currently have no way of knowing whether or not an offender could be released early. It is unacceptable that so many victims are being kept in the dark about this – that must change.”

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the social justice charity Nacro, said prisons must not be allowed to fill up again. “It should not be forgotten that the reason the Labour government put in place an early release scheme was to ensure there isn’t yet another prisons capacity crisis. It is vital that the new government ensures prisons do not quickly become overcrowded again, unable to rehabilitate people, so they are turned away from a life of crime and there are fewer victims,” he said.