About 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes designed to tackle overcrowding in jails. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images View image in fullscreen About 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes designed to tackle overcrowding in jails. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Prisons and probation Burnham ‘personally intervened’ over possible early prison release of grooming gang perpetrators Government ‘urgently’ identifying men convicted in historical cases who could be freed in scheme loophole
Prefer the Guardian on Google Andy Burnham’s government is “urgently” identifying any grooming gang perpetrators who may still be eligible for early prison release after concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system.
The prime minister has “personally intervened” after men convicted of assaulting children in Bradford were expected to be freed from prison early despite a promise earlier this week that they would remain behind bars.
In a statement, No 10 said it would ensure that “everything possible is being done so that vile groomers are dealt with in the way their victims deserve”.
About 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes in England and Wales, down from 6,000 after ministers excluded grooming gang members, rapists and “serious” child sex offenders from the scheme designed to reduce overcrowding in jails.
Critics have questioned the scope of the exemptions after reports that some men convicted in relation to historical grooming gang cases could be among those freed.
Some of the offending took place before sexual abuse laws were changed in 2003 and the perpetrators were charged with crimes such as indecent assault, which do not fall within the exclusions to the scheme starting in October.
A spokesperson for Burnham said: “As part of the review of sentences, the prime minister asked the Ministry of Justice to conduct an in-depth review of cases to ensure that grooming cases were identified.
“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.”
Burnham suspended the scheme in his second week as prime minister after coming under intense pressure from MPs, victims, campaigners and frontline prison officers to halt the early release of serious sexual and violent offenders.
Prisons have become a major point of political contention, with Labour blaming the Conservatives for creating the overcrowding crisis between 2010 and 2024 by increasing sentences while failing to build enough jails.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, wrote to Burnham on Thursday demanding to know which offences would be eligible for early release and accusing the government of “yet another betrayal of the victims”.
As first disclosed by the Times , there are a number of instances where men convicted of assaulting children in Bradford as part of historical investigations into Asian grooming gangs were not excluded from the early release scheme.
As many of the assaults took place before anti-grooming laws were introduced in 2003, the men were charged with indecent assault, which does not fall within the exemptions announced by the prime minister this week.
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