Offenders in England and Wales to have sentences cut for good behaviour and completion of work, training or education tasks
Prisoners will be able to earn their freedom after serving a third of their sentences under new minimum and maximum sentence plans released by the government to tackle the overcrowding in jails.
Offenders in England and Wales will be able to earn early release if they complete work, training or education assignments and demonstrate good behaviour.
Continue reading...As Peter Sullivan is released after serving 38 years for a crime he didn’t commit, efforts turn to finding the killer
People still lay flowers at the granite memorial stone close to the place in Birkenhead where Diane Sindall met her horrific, shocking death. It reads: “Murdered 2.8.1986 because she was a woman. In memory of all our sisters who have been raped and murdered. We will never let it be forgotten.”
On Merseyside, the killing has a legacy that is still felt today. For nearly four decades, many assumed justice had been served and the right man had been convicted. On Tuesday, that was turned on its head when the court of appeal ruled Peter Sullivan was an innocent man.
Continue reading...James Timpson says he will fight ‘normalised’ sexual harassment, bullying and racism within prison service
Sexual harassment, racism and bullying have become “normalised” in jails and probation offices across England and Wales, the prisons minister has warned, as he announced a plan to overhaul a “toxic culture of cover-up” among senior staff.
James Timpson said one in eight of HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) 65,000 staff say they have been bullied. Sexual assaults on female staff have led to arrests while black and Asian staff have faced repeated racist comments amid a “vacuum of pastoral care”.
Continue reading...Meeting called with justice secretary after attack on three guards at HMP Frankland
Prison officers will demand the immediate issue of electric stun guns to protect staff guarding Britain’s most dangerous jails when they meet the justice secretary this week.
Wednesday’s meeting with Shabana Mahmood was called after the attack on three guards at HMP Frankland, allegedly by the convicted terrorist Hashem Abedi. Two were seriously injured after being doused in hot cooking fat and stabbed, one five times in the torso, in a sustained assault.
Continue reading...The country’s three special units at high-security prisons are in spotlight after Hashem Abedi’s assault against staff
With its high, ugly, grey concrete perimeter walls HMP Frankland looks as grim from the outside as you would expect for a place nicknamed “Monster Mansion”.
Since it was opened in 1983 on the leafy outskirts of Durham – near a 13th-century priory used for centuries as a holiday retreat for Benedictine monks – its inmates have included Peter Sutcliffe, Harold Shipman and Charles Bronson.
Continue reading...Move comes after Hashem Abedi injured three officers with hot oil and improvised blades at HMP Frankland
The Prison Service is to suspend the use of kitchens for the most dangerous inmates after the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber attacked three officers at HMP Frankland.
Hashem Abedi, a convicted terrorist who was jailed for life after helping his suicide-bomber brother Salman Abedi carry out the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, set upon staff with hot cooking oil and blades made out of cooking trays.
Continue reading...Kerri Pegg, 42, of HMP Kirkham guilty of misconduct after inmate Anthony Saunderson gave her a Mercedes car
A prison governor has been found guilty of misconduct in a public office, after she started a relationship with a Liverpool drug gang boss nicknamed “Jesse Pinkman” after a character in the TV show Breaking Bad.
Kerri Pegg, 42, has been told she faces jail after she accepted a gift of a £12,000 Mercedes C-Class car, which Anthony Saunderson paid for with 34kg of amphetamines.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Algorithms allegedly being used to study data of thousands of people, in project critics say is ‘chilling and dystopian’
The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.
Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, as they try to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.
Continue reading...Her introduction to politics began as the child of the chair of Birmingham Labour party and as justice secretary she’s made tough decisions from day one
Shabana Mahmood’s potential as a future cabinet minister was first noticed by the former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson in the 90s over tea and samosas at her family’s end-of-terrace Birmingham home.
Watson, a seasoned fixer, had become a close friend of her father, Mahmood Ahmed, the chair of Birmingham Labour party. When political problems arose, Watson and fellow Labour party organisers would be guided through to comfy sofas in the family sitting room.
Continue reading...Her introduction to politics began as the child of the chair of Birmingham Labour party and as justice secretary she’s made tough decisions from day one
Shabana Mahmood’s potential as a future cabinet minister was first noticed by the former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson in the 90s over tea and samosas at her family’s end-of-terrace Birmingham home.
Watson, a seasoned fixer, had become a close friend of her father, Mahmood Ahmed, the chair of Birmingham Labour party. When political problems arose, Watson and fellow Labour party organisers would be guided through to comfy sofas in the family sitting room.
Continue reading...Richard Hermer has responded to Robert Jenrick’s calls for a senior judge to be sacked over sentencing guidelines row
Political attacks on judges are “dangerous” and “a huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, the attorney general has said in a direct rebuke to the shadow justice secretary.
Richard Hermer said politics was entering a “dangerous moment” where politicians were “attacking judges on a personal basis” on the floor of the House of Commons.
Continue reading...Ministry of Justice drafts instruction for judges in England and Wales to ignore guidelines on age, sex and ethnicity
Ministers are planning to introduce a last-minute rule change this week to overturn sentencing guidelines that could have led to criminals getting different sentences depending on their age, sex and ethnicity.
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is planning to bring a bill to the Commons this week to overrule the guidelines, which are due to come into force in England and Wales on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Watchdog finds forces are ‘overwhelmed’ by common offences, and victims are being failed
Overworked police lack the resources, time and experience to investigate crimes properly, leading to victims being failed and an erosion in faith in law enforcement, an official report has found.
The report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) says that the rate of positive outcomes – when police identify a suspect and they face justice – has crashed from 25% in England and Wales a decade ago to 11% in 2024.
Continue reading...Two other prisoners also plotted to attack far-right activist, who is challenging his segregation at jail
A “lifer” in the prison holding Tommy Robinson planned to kill the far-right activist while two other prisoners plotted to attack him to gain “kudos and notoriety”, the high court has been told.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is seeking to bring a legal challenge against his segregation from other prisoners, which he claims is having an impact on his mental health.
Continue reading...First such study finds laws on abortion, debt and dress help increase rate of women being jailed twice as fast as for men
Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.
With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women’s rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Justice minister James Timpson says more cell capacity means emergency early release schemes won’t be needed
Prisons are being prepared to cope with a sudden influx of offenders in case there is a repeat of last summer’s riots, the justice minister, James Timpson, has told the Guardian.
Hundreds of extra makeshift cells and newly refurbished cells will be in use by the end of this year, officials have disclosed, as the prisons minister said there will be “no more emergency measures” such as early release schemes.
Continue reading...Criminals dressed as utilities repair teams dug up roads to access cables to power industrial-scale drug production
A group of eight criminals who dug up roads and diverted electricity to cannabis farms run by organised crime gangs have been jailed by a judge in Liverpool.
The criminals used a legitimate company as cover and pretended to be workers who were digging up the roads to repair utilities in a “sophisticated operation”, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Continue reading...Criminal justice specialists call for new approach to identify emerging type of murderer with no prior convictions
The rise of “0 to 100” killers who go from watching torture, mutilation and beheading videos in their bedrooms to committing murder suggests there could be a link between extreme violence online and in real life, experts have said.
Criminal justice experts advocated a new approach, inspired by counter-terrorism, to identify an emerging type of murderer with no prior convictions, after cases such as Nicholas Prosper, who killed his mother and siblings and planned a primary school massacre.
Continue reading...Warrant will not be required where tracker shows an item is present, as part of raft of measures in crime and policing bill
Police will be able to search properties without a warrant for stolen phones or other electronically geotagged items under the government’s crime and policing bill.
The measure is among dozens in the bill, which will be put before parliament on Tuesday and would mostly apply to England and Wales. It has a particular focus on lower-level offences such as theft and wider antisocial behaviour.
Continue reading...New raft of measures labelled Ronan’s law include tougher sentences for those caught selling blades to under-18s
Retailers will be required to report suspicious or bulk purchases of knives, and those caught selling blades to under-18s will face tougher sentences under a new raft of measures to clamp down on young people’s access to weapons labelled Ronan’s law.
Named after Ronan Kanda, the 16-year-old killed in Wolverhampton in 2022 by a teenager carrying a 22in ninja blade he had ordered online, the new laws are part of a raft of anti-knife crime plans announced by the government on Wednesday.
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