More women will die if ministers include domestic abusers in the early prison release scheme, the parents of a woman murdered by her partner shortly after he was freed have warned. Michaela Hall, a 49-year-old charity worker, was killed in her home in Cornwall, by Lee Kendall in 2021 two weeks after he was released from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for assaulting her. The Probation Service incorrectly assessed Kendall as medium risk, despite the fact he had strangled Hall, threatened her with weapons and police had received 34 pieces ofintelligence about his abuse against her.
At an inquest into her death, probation staff cited “horrendous work pressures” as part of the reason why the error was made. Hall’s parents, Anne and Peter, said domestic abuse victims across the country would be “absolutely petrified” at the prospect of their abusers being released early. It’s very simple,” Peter said.
They certainly can’t cope with 5,000 prisoners being released. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” From October, the government is planning to release 5,000 offenders in England and Wales earlier than scheduled to create more space in overcrowded prisons. Probation officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of potential strike action over excessive workloads and the chief inspector of probation for England and Wales, Martin Jones, has said he does not think the system will be able to cope.
Prisoners convicted of rape, serious child sex offences and grooming charges will be excluded from early release after an intervention by the prime minister, Andy Burnham, in response to backlash over the plans. Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said it was “really upsetting and troubling” that domestic abuse perpetrators would not be excluded. Probation is probably not able to manage them effectively.
They’re going to be angry. Where do you think they’re going to go first? It’s absolutely appalling,” she said.
There is no doubt in my mind. Survivors need to come forward and they need to seek help.” Nazeer criticised the government for failing to give survivors enough time to prepare for the early release and said it would “completely undermine” Labour’s goal to halve violence against women in a decade. While the service miscategorised Kendall’s risk level, meaning he was released with minimal supervision, police officers also failed to enter Hall’s property on the night she was murdered despite a call from a friend saying she was being attacked.
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