Offenders to get ‘sobreity tags’ to enforce alcohol bans

SOBRIETY tags to prevent criminals f rom drinking alcohol are to be launched nationally with offenders facing jail or tougher sanctions if they fail to stay teetotal for at least four months.

All courts in Wales will be able to require offenders to wear the tags from today, followed by all magistrates and judges in England in the New Year.

Ministers are also drawing up plans under a new tough sentencing regime to give courts powers to force criminals to wear the ankle tags for up to two years. The new laws are expected within the next year.

The tags will be targeted at offenders where their crime is linked to drink, whether alcohol-fuelled assaults and domestic abuse or burglary, shoplifting and theft.

The tags can detect alcohol in an offender’s sweat and differentiate it from environmental alcohol, such as that in a hand sanitiser. Each tag takes alcohol readings every 30 minutes and then transmits the information to a management centre. Tamper and infrared sensors can detect any attempts to remove a tag or place objects between it and the ankle, alerting the centre.

Drink is a factor in around 39 per cent of violent crime, according to the Office for National Statistics, with the social and economic cost of alcohol-related harm estimated at £21 billion a year.

Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, said the tags will be used to enforce alcohol abstinence orders of up to 120 days, with any breaches requiring the offender to return to court.

“This proven new tool can break the self- destructive cycle that offenders end up in, helping them sober up if they choose to and the courts to punish those who don’t,” he said.