Eight men arrested days after early release from jail

Eight men have been arrested by Greater Manchester Police days after leaving prison under the government's early release scheme.

About 700 prisoners from across the country were released early on 1 October in a bid to tackle overcrowding, with about 50 of them being from Greater Manchester.

GMP confirmed that five men had been arrested for breaches of criminal orders, including a domestic abuse prevention order, and others were held on suspicion of robbery, drug offences and domestic violence.

In response, the Ministry of justice (MOJ) said: "We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse. If we had failed to act, the police would have been forced to halt arrests."

Under the first phase of the early release scheme, offenders serving sentences of up to 19 months were eligible to be released after serving one third of their sentence.

The move, which will see a further 2,500 prisoners released across the country by the end of the year, is due to the prison system running on 98.2% capacity.

The MOJ said: "We will never jeopardise public safety. That is why we are putting thousands more Neighbourhood Police officers on to our streets, upping police funding to £18.5 billion and taking investment in the probation service to record levels.

"To manage offenders out on licence, we are rolling out the toughest-ever controls, including world-first restriction zones, the largest expansion of electronic tagging, and giving victims a say in licence conditions."

GMP Dep Ch Cons Terry Wood said the force had been working "closely" with partners so that "robust plans are in place to ensure offenders are adhering to their conditions" adding that any breaches "will be, and are being - enforced by GMP".

"As with any offending in Greater Manchester, where there is a report of a crime we will respond promptly to take positive action to protect victims and pursue criminals," he added.