Terrorists to be denied early release from prison

Tougher punishment for most dangerous offenders to stop repeat of London Bridge

THE MOST dangerous terrorists will be forced to serve their entire jail term without any prospect of early release as part of a crackdown announced today.

All of those convicted of preparing or committing a terrorist act will face a minimum of 14 years in jail, more than four times the present three years. The rule allowing the release of the worst offenders two thirds of the way through their sentence will be abolished.

There will also be tougher controls on release, including lie detector tests that could help prevent a repeat of the London Bridge terror attack, where killer Usman Khan is thought to have conned police and probation officers into thinking he had reformed.

The introduction of fixed-term sentences for terrorists will fuel demands for early release to be scrapped for offences across the justice system.

Boris Johnson is proposing longer sentences for serious violent and sexual offenders by abolishing the current system, which sees prisoners released at the halfway point of their sentences, but they will still be eligible for parole two thirds of the way through.

It follows appeals by the victims’ commissioner and victims themselves for courts and judges to be more honest about the length of sentences offenders will serve. Last year rape victims told The Daily Telegraph they wanted “12 years to be 12 years in prison”.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said Khan’s murder of two Cambridge graduates last November had confronted the Government with “hard facts about how we deal with terrorist offenders” and “to do whatever is necessary to stop these sickening attacks from taking place”. She said: “Today we are delivering on those promises, giving police and probation officers the resources they need to investigate and track offenders, introducing tougher sentences and launching major reviews into how offenders are managed after they are released.”

The crackdown is targeted at the most dangerous individuals who plot or commit terrorist acts – or who, like the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, are charged with a separate offence such as murder, manslaughter or GBH, but whose offence included a terrorist intent.

These offenders will face a lifetime on licence, where any breach will lead to a return to jail. They will be placed on the highest level of monitoring by police, probation and security services, with conditions ranging from tagging to curbs on movement and access to phones or the internet.

The number of counter-terrorism probation officers will be more than doubled from 60 to 135 and the number of places at probation hostels increased so authorities can keep closer tabs on terrorists immediately after release.

Counter-terrorism police funding is to be increased by £90 million to £906million for 2020-21, while there will be an immediate £500,000 available to support victims of terrorism and a review of services available.

There will be more specialist psychologists and trained imams to assess the risk of radicalism and more training for prison and probation staff to identify and challenge extremism.

The licences of 74 terrorists released early from prisons have been reviewed since the London Bridge attack, with two recalled. A further 224 are currently in jail but still eligible for early release unless on life sentences.