Freed convicts go on to murder and rape again
SCORES of released convicts are at the centre of murder and rape investigations, figures have revealed.
Hundreds of criminals are released from prison on licence every year and are supposed to be supervised by a probation officer to help them keep on the right side of the law.
But figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that hundreds of them are ending up back in trouble, charged with murder, manslaughter and sexual offences.
Over the past five years, onlicence criminals were charged with a total of 438 murders and 49 crimes of manslaughter.
Over the same time period these prisoners, many of whom were released from prison before the end of their original sentence, were charged by police with 1,063 serious sexual crimes, including rape.
The numbers are logged by the
MOJ, who conduct a Serious Further Offence review every time a released offender who was being supervised commits a heinous crime.
When criminals are released on licence they are categorised as either low, medium or high risk and a suitable supervision plan is put in place for them in a bid to stop them re-offending. The MOJ figures show the number of released convicts who were on licence when they were charged with murder has soared from 71 in 2014 to 114 in 2018.
David Spencer, research director at the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “These figures are clear evidence of the revolving door of
British justice where soft sentencing allows hardened criminals back on to our streets to re-offend time and time again.
A spokesman for the MOJ said: “Fewer than 0.5 per cent of offenders under statutory supervision are convicted of serious further offences.
“Nonetheless, every single serious further offence is taken extremely seriously, and in all cases a review is carried out to identify any lessons for the better management of future cases.”
The list of convicts includes Jordan Davidson, who was released from prison for burglary in December 2016 but went on to murder a pensioner. He was eventually given a life sentence.
Stephen Unwin and William Mcfall were both jailed for separate murders in the 1990s. On their release they teamed up and murdered mother-of-two Quyen Ngoc Nguyen.they have now been given second life sentences.
Paul O’hara murdered his girlfriend a year after being released for killing his previous partner. O’hara attacked Cherylee Shennan in her home, in Rawtenstall, Lancs, as she reported his domestic abuse to police.
He had recently been released from a life sentence after killing a previous girlfriend in 1998.