MyLondon’s Callum Cuddeford reported on a Prison Service release in error before the issue hit headlines with the accidental release of Epping paedophile Hadush Kebatu. The Government is in big trouble if they can’t get a grip on this soon.
When career criminal Leon Shea was accidentally released from prison in May this year, there was no manhunt. In fact, as far as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was concerned, there had been no error at all. “This is not true,” a Prison Service spokesperson insisted when I asked then-Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s department why Shea’s barrister had raised the failure at his sentencing.
I ignored this denial and, after some more digging, it transpired Shea had, in fact, been released in error. Even more embarrassing, the Prison Service clearly had no idea. It took a journalist approaching for comment to kickstart the investigation. Fortunately for the MoJ, and Shea’s victim, Shea had already handed himself back into the court – presumably because he knew it would play well in mitigation.
A few months ago, stories like this, about accidental releases in and around London, were still pretty rare. Now, in less than a fortnight, the public have learned of cock-ups involving Epping predator Hadush Kebatu, accidently let out of HMP Chelmsford on October 24, pervert Brahim Kaddour-Cherif from HMP Wandsworth on October 29, and fraudster William Smith from Wandsworth on November 3.
When I published the story about Shea – a man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s flat, smacked her in the face, and threw her dog against the wall – there was nothing like the level of public outcry there should have been. How could any serious Government department accidentally let man out of jail and not even realise, giving his former partner no chance to know she was at risk?
The issue only really captured the public’s attention when Kebatu walked free a few months later. And that was only because he is a migrant and convicted paedophile, whose offences kickstarted weeks of protests outside the Essex hotel he had been placed in.
The writing had been on the wall for some time though. Government data cited in The Guardian show in the 12 months to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error, a 128 per cent increase from 115 the previous year. That figure now dwarfs the headline-making figure of 71 reported by Metro in 2017, then described as ‘the highest number in any year since current records started’.
After Kebatu was released and then apprehended in Finsbury Park, the national chairman for the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) went on the BBC and claimed there had been five releases in error from five prisons in less than a week. The MoJ contested this figure, though I think my story about Shea gives some indication why.
We know from the official data that accidental releases are rising rapidly. I also know from my own reporting on Shea’s case that an accidental release might not even be acknowledged by the Government until they are alerted by a newspaper. We might therefore conclude that there are some releases in error that fly under the radar – reflected in the dispute between the POA and the MoJ.
Whatever the real figures are, it has long been clear to judges, lawyers, police officers, probation officers, court officials, and journalists that the justice system is a hot mess.
Tottenham MP David Lammy, the latest justice secretary, now faces one of the toughest challenges of his political life: How to turn around a dilapidated and crumbling system before it proves fatal to his career, or an innocent member of the public?
What is the MoJ doing?
Since my initial report on Shea’s release in error, an MoJ spokesperson assured me: “Releases in error are rare, but we are clear that mistakes are unacceptable. A new specialist team is working to clamp down on any releases in error that do occur.”
It is understood that measures to ease prison capacity have increased the complexity of sentence calculations, and that staff working in prisons have worked fast to implement the changes. A new digital service was implemented last year to accurately generate release dates, but there are expansions in the works to enhance the digitisation process for release dates.
Want to contact Callum about this story? Please email [email protected] or Signal +447580255582
Sign up to our London Crimewatch WhatsApp community for the latest major court updates and breaking news delivered straight to your phone. Sign up HERE.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the MyLondon team. We also treat our subscribers to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To unsubscribe, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘exit group’. If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
