The Prime Minister has ordered an “urgent” review to identify any grooming gang members who could be freed from prison under the government’s early release scheme.
On Monday, Andy Burnham announced that rapists and child sex offenders will be exempt from the upcoming changes to prison sentences.
The scheme will see around 5,000 people included for eligible release, a figure down from 6,000 after the government excluded grooming gang members, rapists and serious child sex offenders to ease prison overcrowding.
However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pointed to a potential loophole in the system which could see some prisoners convicted in historical grooming gangs freed.
It comes as some of the offending took place before sexual abuse laws were changed in 2003, meaning certain perpetrators were charged with crimes including indecent assault, which does not fall within Labour’s exclusion criteria.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said Mr Burnham had asked the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to “conduct an in-depth review of cases to ensure that grooming cases were identified”.
They added: “This work is happening urgently. This is extremely important to the PM and he has personally intervened to ensure everything possible is being done so that vile groomers are dealt with in the way their victims deserve.”
Mr Burnham announced the changes to the Sentencing Act after a public outcry over the potential release of dangerous abusers after just a third of their jail term was served.
He paused the scheme in July, after victims spoke out about their fears over the release, pledging to review the Sentencing Act.
The PM has now added exemptions as well as delaying its implementation until October.
But describing the intervention as another “U-turn secured”, Ms Badenoch wrote in a letter to the PM: “On Tuesday, you told the country that those convicted of grooming offences would be excluded.
“Your own government has now put in writing that some of these men will be released early anyway.”
She added that it was a “betrayal of victims”, and called on Mr Burnham to clarify the full list of offences that remain eligible for early release.
The scheme has caused huge controversy after it was revealed two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers will still be eligible for early release.
The driver of the vehicle which caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and will not be eligible for the scheme.
However, two of the three killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for his manslaughter and are set to be eligible.
PC Harper’s widow, Lissie, called the refusal to keep Cole and Bowers behind bars “an absolute betrayal” by Mr Burnham’s government.
Two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers could be free to walk the streets within weeks. Picture: PA
She said: “It is deplorable to me that we have reached a point where releasing prisoners early is even considered acceptable.
“We speak of justice, accountability and standing with victims, yet decisions like this do the opposite.
“They tell victims their suffering matters less, and offenders that the punishment handed down by our courts is no longer what they will actually serve.”
PC Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
By Alex Storey
