Offenders’ electronic tags can be faulty, tests show

EQUIPMENT used to monitor dozens of offenders or suspects in the community is faulty, it has emerged.

Straps used to secure electronic monitoring tags could incorrectly trigger an alert suggesting that they have been tampered with.

Tests indicate that more than 100 of the straps are flawed, leading to suspicion that a small number of individuals may have been wrongly imprisoned.

The Liberal Democrats claimed it was a “colossal blunder”, while the Government insisted that there was no risk to the public.

Sam Gyimah, the justice minister, said that there was a “small chance” that some “enforcement action” might have been taken against an offender or suspect in response to a false report of tampering.

“It does not mean an individual will have been automatically sent to custody,” he said.

“A single tamper alert without any additional evidence of an escalation of risk is likely to result in an alternative outcome, such as a warning letter. So it is unlikely that a first tamper on its own will result in an offender being recalled.”

Officials said that if any individuals had been returned or sent to custody, the number was likely to be small.

Ministry of Justice staff notified Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS), which provides the electronic monitoring service, of an increase in the number of alerts raised when equipment worn by an offender or suspect was tampered with.

This was investigated by EMS and G4S, which supplies straps and electronic tags used to monitor offenders and suspects who have a curfew as part of their sentence or bail.

G4S last month informed the ministry of an issue with faulty straps.

Mr Gyimah said: “We understand that the number of affected straps is small.

“Only straps that have entered the system since October 2016 are affected.”