Sentences to protect the public

INDETERMINATE sentences for public protection (IPPs) were introduced in 2005 to keep offenders behind bars indefinitely unless they prove they are fit for release.

For the first time, it enabled judges to set a minimum term, but no maximum sentence to be served.

However, some inmates convicted of relatively minor crimes languished in jail for years, causing the European courts to overturn the policy in 2012.

Despite abolition, nearly 2,500 prisoners sentenced under the law remain behind bars, unsure of when they will be released.

Black- cab rapist John Worboys was among the first of the more serious cases to be freed, but the decision was later overturned in the courts and he pleaded guilty to further offences last month.

There are several other notorious killers, rapists and terrorists on IPP sentences who are due for release after serving their minimum term.

Vanessa George’s cohort, Angela Allen, who raped a girl of three, has already served the five-year minimum of her IPP sentence imposed in December 2009.

The ringleader of the paedophile gang, Colin Blanchard – who was jailed in 2011 for a minimum of nine years – will also be eligible for parole shortly.

Two other members of the paedophile ring – Tracy Dawber and Tracy Lyons – were sentenced to four years and seven years respectively.