London mayor’s office says he is ‘victim of a scam’ after conviction under fast-track system where magistrates can decide outcomes in seconds
Sadiq Khan’s office has revealed he was the victim of a scam that led to him being fined for failing to tax a car that did not belong to him.
The London mayor was found guilty last month under a system of “conveyor-belt justice”, in which magistrates decide on hundreds of cases a day, sometimes spending less than a minute on each.
Continue reading...Campaigners welcome plan to bring IPP sentences to a close but say the move is long overdue
Campaigners have hailed Andy Burnham’s pledge to bring an end to indefinite jail terms as “a day that thousands of families have spent years fighting for”.
The prime minister has said he will “end the injustice” of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences during this parliament, meaning people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Bridget Phillipson says government would not have to consider releasing prisoners early if Tories had created more capacity
Cells to hold newly arrested people could run out without the early prison release scheme, a minister has said.
Bridget Phillipson defended the plan to address the prison capacity crisis in England and Wales by releasing thousands of prisoners early, which has been criticised by domestic abuse charities, bereaved families and probation officers among others.
Continue reading...Campaigners accuse ministers of trying to grab headlines with announcement before a working system is ready
Survivors of violent crime and families of victims have criticised the UK government for announcing “world first” plans to introduce restriction zones for serious offenders freed from prison within a few weeks without spelling out how they would work.
Key campaigners who have championed the idea of the zones, designed to “lock” offenders into specific areas, accused the government of seeking to grab headlines rather than providing the detail that would reassure survivors and families.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Voluntary use of sex drive-suppressing medication to expand to 20 prisons and expert says it could be rolled out widely by late 2028
Drugs that help control the libidos of people who have committed sexual offences could be rolled out for thousands of male prisoners in England and Wales from December 2028, an expert has said.
Prof Belinda Winder, who has evaluated the use of sex drive-suppressing medication in prisons, said about one in four sex offenders – equating to 3,750 current prisoners – would be considered for the treatment.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ministers explore diverting male prisoners serving short terms or on remand away from tougher jails
Ministers are examining a possible upgrade of security at men’s category C and women’s prisons to deal with an overcrowding crisis across the England and Wales estate, the Guardian understands.
Officials have explored diverting prisoners on remand or serving short sentences away from category B “reception” prisons such as HMPs Liverpool, Manchester and Pentonville in north London.
Continue reading...Anna Turley backs up Andy Burnham’s suggestion that affluent areas should house more asylum seekers in future
Just 20 staff are working on climate adaptation within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the part of government tasked with protecting the environment and maintaining food security, a freedom of information request has revealed. Sandra Laville has the story.
On his visit to Stevenage, Andy Burnham also said he would visit the town on Remembrance Day to mark its 80th birthday.
I’m going to come back to Stevenage on 11 November. We will pay our respects for Remembrance Day around that time, but I’ll be here because if I’m right, that will be 80 years to the day that the post-war Labour government created the first new town right here in Stevenage.
Continue reading...Reform says it will free up space in jails in England and Wales by rapidly deporting all foreign offenders
With parts of Britain set to experience their fifth heatwave of the summer this week, Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has accused the government of not recognising the severity of the crisis.
In a statement, he said:
We are now facing the fifth heatwave in months following the recent deaths of 3,000 people in our country from extreme weather conditions.
This is the greatest crisis this country has faced since the second world war and to complacently dismiss the demands for immediate action by saying everything is under control is gross negligence, blatantly untrue and misses the severity of the crisis.
Continue reading...Government revises plans to tackle prison overcrowding amid pressure from MPs and victims but domestic abusers and killers could still be released early
Some 86,495 people were in prison in England and Wales as of 3 August, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Justice.
This is 2,026 below the record high of 88,521 reached on 6 September 2024, just before the current early release scheme began.
Continue reading...Justice secretary says blocking more would have caused prison system to ‘break’ but admits impact on grieving relatives such as those of PC Andrew Harper
About 1,000 fewer prisoners will be released early after Andy Burnham’s intervention to exclude those convicted of rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming from the scheme.
The justice secretary, Alex Norris, said 5,000 prisoners would be released over 10 months from October in England and Wales, down from the government’s original plan for 6,000 from September.
Continue reading...Rapists, child abusers and groomers will not leave prison early but some of those serving sexual or violent offences will now leave after half their sentence
Rapists, child sexual abusers and groomers will be excluded from early release plans to ease critical prison overcrowding in a major intervention by Andy Burnham.
The prime minister said on Monday evening that he would delay the planned early release of thousands of prisoners across England and Wales by a month until October.
Continue reading...Comment follows news Axel Rudakubana was transferred from prison to psychiatric hospital
The lawyer for the families of Axel Rudakubana’s victims has said the Southport killer is “trying to retraumatise the families from his cell” after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital.
Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.
Continue reading...Rudakubana moved to psychiatric hospital after it was concluded he could not be safely managed in prison
The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been accused of attempting to “manipulate the system” by the families of his victims, after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital.
Rudakubana, 19, was jailed for life in January last year, with a minimum sentence of 52 years, for the murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Clinical assessments concluded Rudakubana could not be safely managed in prison, sources say
The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been moved from prison to a psychiatric hospital after clinical assessment, the Guardian can disclose.
He was transferred to Broadmoor high-security hospital from the category A prison Belmarsh this week after it was concluded that he could not be managed safely in a prison environment, sources confirmed.
Continue reading...PM says he wants to ensure ‘everything has been looked at’ amid outrage at policy from family of PC Andrew Harper
Andy Burnham is immersed in a deepening political row after ordering a review of plans for the early release of thousands of killers, rapists and sex offenders from prison in September.
After the family of PC Andrew Harper expressed outrage that his killers may be eligible for release, the prime minister responded by pledging to make sure that “everything has been looked at again” before a fresh tranche of about 6,000 offenders were freed on tags.
Continue reading...Exclusive: CCRC will test serial killer as part of inquiry into whether Michael Stone was wrongly convicted of 1996 murders
The serial killer Levi Bellfield will have his DNA taken in an attempt to establish if he murdered Lin and Megan Russell in 1996.
Michael Stone has protested his innocence since his conviction in 1998 for the killing of Lin, 45, and her daughter, six-year-old Megan, as well as a vicious attack on Megan’s sister Josie, nine, who survived.
Continue reading...Annie’s lawyers argue that prosecution was so badly executed it breached her human rights
At her kitchen table, in a village in southern England, Annie* sits with a blue folder stuffed with court documents, witness statements and correspondence relating to the trial of her stepfather, whom she had reported to police for alleged childhood abuse.
As she prepared to tell her story for the first time, she was flooded with emotion when a photograph fell from the folder. The square Polaroid showed a young girl standing in a field beside a pony, dressed in jodhpurs and a riding hat.
Continue reading...Watchdog criticises ‘lack of proactive, effective casework quality assurance’ but says CCRC ultimately fit for purpose
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) must urgently improve its investigations to avoid a repeat of failings such as those in the Andrew Malkinson scandal, a watchdog has found.
Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, delivered the warning after carrying out an independent inspection of casework by the body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice.
Continue reading...CPS urges victims to go to police, saying they will be taken seriously and it ‘won’t hesitate’ to bring abusers to justice
Prosecutors in England and Wales are expecting incidents of domestic abuse to increase during the men’s World Cup, and have urged victims to come forward, saying those responsible “will be held accountable”.
“We often see more domestic abuse cases around major football tournaments like these,” the CPS national stalking lead, Olivia Rose, said. “The point that we want to get across is that those responsible will be held accountable, and that we won’t hesitate to bring them to justice.”
Continue reading...Kenneth Law pleaded guilty in Canada to sending products internationally, knowing they would probably be used to end lives
Bereaved families whose loved ones were the victims of an online supplier of suicide kits say they feel insulted by a decision not to prosecute him in the UK.
Kenneth Law pleaded guilty in a court in Ontario, Canada, to 14 charges of aiding suicide and sending products internationally in the knowledge that they were likely to be used to end lives. He is due to be sentenced at a later date.
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