Latest news with #ShabanaMahmood
Telegraph
3 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Prison guard stabbed at high-security jail
A prison officer has been stabbed and seriously injured in an unprovoked attack by a prisoner at a high-security jail. The prison officer was airlifted to hospital on Friday morning after being stabbed by an inmate in HMP Long Lartin, a category A prison near Evesham, Worcestershire. He was said to be in a 'stable' condition after emergency surgery. There were unconfirmed reports that the knife used in the attack may have been delivered into the jail by a drone. Prison Service sources said this was based on the theory that it was a real knife rather than a makeshift one constructed from materials within the jail. The attack will raise further concerns over the scale of violence in jails after a series of assaults over the past two months, including a knife attack by Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, on three officers at the high-security HMP Frankland jail in County Durham. On Thursday, The Telegraph revealed that two prison officers at the high-security HMP Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire were taken to hospital after two separate attacks. It followed the killing of a convicted murderer by another inmate at the same prison last month. Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has ordered reviews into whether front-line prison officers should be equipped with stab vests to protect against knife attacks and tougher powers to segregate the most violent offenders in 'supermax-style' units. She has also ordered a trial of Tasers. 'Lucky to have survived' According to The Sun, the prison officer at Long Lartin was stabbed in his body, with a blade from a flick-knife nicking his liver. A source told the paper: 'The attack came out of the blue and was early in the morning after the prisoners were unlocked. The member of staff is lucky to have survived, particularly given where the blade struck him. 'It nicked his liver, so it could easily have been a lot worse. His colleagues raced to his aid, and luckily, police and ambulance crews got to the prison pretty quickly. 'Other members of staff are furious. They do not feel they are getting the protection they deserve, and they have been warning about drones for ages. It is a daily occurrence that they are dropping stuff off there, and it is extremely worrying that a flick-knife was delivered. If that can be dropped off, anything can. 'It is ridiculous, especially at what is meant to be a highly secure jail. Prisons are out of control – something needs to be done, and fast.' 'We will not tolerate assaults' In a statement, West Mercia Police said officers had been called to HMP Long Lartin over an assault. 'One man was taken to hospital with serious injuries after sustaining a stab wound. The inmate remains within the prison and the investigation is ongoing,' the statement said. A Prison Service spokesman said: 'We will not tolerate assaults on hard-working staff and will always push for the strongest punishments against perpetrators.' Category A Long Lartin prison houses 900 highly dangerous inmates, including killers and terrorists. Inmates there include Suffolk strangler Steve Wright; Jordan McSweeney, who murdered Zara Aleena in 2022, and Vincent Tabak, Joanna Yeates's killer. It is understood the latest attack was not by a high-profile prisoner. The latest assault comes just weeks after Abedi, who is serving life over the murder of 22 people in the Manchester Arena bomb, attacked three officers in a separation unit at HMP Frankland by throwing hot cooking oil over them and stabbing them with two makeshift knives fashioned from baking trays in the kitchen. The Prison Officers' Association has called for all terrorists and violent prisoners who assault officers to be held in US-style 'supermax' units or separate jails where they are only allowed out of their cells one hour a day, handcuffed and supervised by three officers.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Police say they need more money to fulfil Labour promises on crime – are they right?
Leaders of six major police forces, including Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, have warned Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, against a repeat of 'the retrenchment we saw under austerity.' They say that without more money, Labour's missions of halving knife crime and halving violence against women and girls will not happen. An article in The Times warning that 'without investment there will be no restoration of the prevention-focused neighbourhood policing' was signed by Sir Mark, Gavin Stephens, the chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, and the chief constables of Merseyside, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. At the same time, Sir Mark has joined privately with the heads of MI5 and the National Crime Agency to warn Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, that her plans to release prisoners early could be a 'net detriment to public safety.' They say they would need 'necessary resources' to contain the risks to the public of the early release of dangerous criminals. Are these just bids in spending negotiations? The negotiations for the spending review on 11 June are still under way, with the Home Office and Department of Justice two of the departments that have yet to agree their budgets for the next four years with the Treasury. It is not unusual at this stage of the discussions for interest groups to support their departments' demands for more money with blood-curdling warnings of the terrible consequences of failure to secure the funds they want. That said, the police have a strong case on both fronts. Labour made manifesto promises on crime that cannot be delivered on the cheap, and the early release scheme is bound to increase the risk to the public, however marginally. No wonder the negotiations are going badly. It is reported that 'some' secretaries of state are refusing to deal with Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, who is traditionally in charge of spending discussions – they are insisting on taking their case directly to Rachel Reeves, the chancellor. Will Reeves give them the money? In the immortal words of Liam Byrne, the last chief secretary to the Treasury in a Labour government, 'there is no money'. The spending 'envelope' – the total – has been set and the announcement on 11 June is only on how it will be divided between departments. To make matters worse, Reeves already has to find additional money since her last checkpoint, which was the spring statement in March. Then, just to stay within her fiscal rules, she announced savings of £5bn a year from the welfare budget. Since then, the world economy has been threatened by Donald Trump's trade war, and government borrowing has been higher than expected. On top of which, the prime minister has just announced a U-turn, restoring winter fuel payments to an unspecified number of pensioners, and Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, this week confirmed that the government was considering lifting the two-child limit on universal credit payments. It is hard to see how Reeves can make her sums add up without more tax rises in the Budget in the autumn. Will we go back to the 'austerity' era for the police? The most frightening word in the police chiefs' article was 'austerity'. Labour is well aware that George Osborne's spending cuts to non-protected departments (anything that isn't health, defence or schools) were damaging to the Conservatives in the 2017 election. Police numbers fell by 8 per cent between the end of the last Labour government in 2010 to 2017. Theresa May responded to that disastrous election by reversing the trend: numbers had recovered by the election last year. It seems unlikely that police budgets will be squeezed on 11 June by anything like what happened in the Osborne years – and the memory of how Labour used police cuts as a campaign issue against the Tories ought to guarantee that 'austerity' on that scale does not happen again.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Justice secretary hits back at police in row over early prison release scheme
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has hit back at the UK's most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail. The Ministry of Justice insisted on Wednesday that officials 'consulted with police' including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding. Hours earlier, Rowley had said that the scheme to free thousands of offenders early would 'generate a lot of work for police' and claimed that the decision had been made 'without any analysis of the impact on policing whatsoever'. The clash came as public servants lobby the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in the expectation of budget cuts from the spending review on 11 June. Mahmood has insisted that she must take drastic action to cut prison overcrowding or risk the collapse of the criminal justice system. Recommendations from David Gauke's sentencing review, which proposed less jail time for thousands of offenders including some violent criminals and domestic abusers, were accepted in principle by Mahmood last week. These recommendations will allow prisoners in England and Wales to be eligible for release after serving a third of their sentence, drop short custodial sentences for nearly all offenders and allow suspended sentences for up to three years. On Wednesday morning, Rowley told the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme that the plans would 'generate a lot of work for police'. 'We've asked the Ministry of Justice for the data so that we can understand the exact detail of the types of offenders who will in the future be in communities, so we can work through what the consequence of that are.' Rowley said the decision would further stretch the resources of police forces still struggling to recover from financial cuts. 'We're carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts, and forces are much smaller when you compare the population they're policing than they were a decade or 15 years ago,' he said. Responding to Rowley, a government source said that police, including Rowley himself, had been consulted by both officials and politicians in the months leading up to the publication of the review. Rowley met Mahmood last week before the sentencing review was published, it is understood. 'The department and David Gauke consulted with police. The justice secretary accepted the recommendations 'in principle', but always said that further detail would come forward with the bill. The impact assessment will be published when the bill comes before parliament,' the source said. Officials from the Ministry of Justice are currently drawing up legislation based on the principles which were passed in principle before parliament. They hope that a bill could be put forward before summer recess. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Police remain concerned that the principles have been drawn up before the impacts upon policing have been taken into account. A police source said: 'More criminals in the community will result in more work for police officers. After a decade of keeping things on an even keel, the cash reserves have been eaten through.' Rowley also joined the head of MI5 and the National Crime Agency in writing to the justice ministry to predict that plans to release prisoners early could be to the 'net detriment to public safety'. The letter, sent before the sentencing review was published, argued police would need the 'necessary resources' in the next spending review to deal with the plan's impact and maintain order. 'We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,' they said. Rowley also joined five other senior police officers to predict the government would miss its key crime targets without extra resources for policing. They predicted the next spending round could jeopardise Keir Starmer's promise to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls, and to appoint 13,000 additional frontline officers.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
As a victim, I'm horrified by the idea of any rapist being let out early: JENNI MURRAY
I have not spent three quarters of my long life working to protect women from sexual and domestic violence to now approve Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposal to free rapists and abusers out on to the streets to ease the overcrowding of prisons. No. I've been there, admittedly a very long time ago, but my experience of a rapist when I was a student and my fear of reporting him to the police angers me to this day.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Police chiefs and MI5 warn Labour's plans to release prisoners early will 'risk public safety' - as they demand Rachel Reeves give them enough cash to maintain order on Britain's streets
Police chiefs and MI5 warn Labour's plans to release prisoners early will 'risk public safety' - as they demand Rachel Reeves give them enough cash to maintain order on Britain's streets Senior police chiefs and MI5 have warned Labour's plans to release prisoners early could be of 'net detriment to public safety'. The heads of the Metropolitan Police, MI5 and National Crime Agency were among those who used a letter to the Ministry of Justice to raise their 'collective concerns'. According to The Times, the letter demanded the 'necessary resources' in Chancellor Rachel Reeves' upcoming spending review to deal with the impact of the plans. 'We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,' it stated. The Government-commissioned sentencing review, published last week, recommended measures to tackle prison overcrowding. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has agreed to allow some criminals, including violent and sexual offenders, to be released early for good behaviour. She also agreed to scrap short sentences of under 12 months and have more criminals serve sentences in the community instead. The police chiefs' letter was sent before the formal announcement of the sentencing review, but police and security bodies had been briefed before it was made. Senior police chiefs and MI5 have warned Labour's plans to release prisoners early could be of 'net detriment to public safety' Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was among those to sign a letter to the Ministry of Justice The letter demanded the 'necessary resources' in Chancellor Rachel Reeves' upcoming spending review to deal with the impact of the plans. The letter was also signed by the chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council and a top counter-terror officer. It said: 'On the basis of what we understand at the moment, we are concerned that the proposals could be of net detriment to public safety and certainty to public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. 'We are not arguing for the status quo. But we have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and out of prison does not mean out of control.' Meanwhile, ahead of the spending review on 11 June, six of the UK's most senior police chiefs have separately said they need a larger workforce and called for 'serious investment'. Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, NPCC chairman Gavin Stephens, and the chiefs of Merseyside, West Midlands, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire police cited the 'increasing public demand, growing social volatility… and new serious and organised crime threats emboldened by the online world'. In an article for the newspaper, they warned that Labour's pledges on crime and policing would be at risk without 'substantial investments'. 'To deliver this Government's policing ambitions and manage the increasing complexity and demand will require both substantial investments to bolster police officer numbers, grow specialist police staff nationally and enact major police reforms,' they said. 'Now is the most important moment in decades for government to choose to back policing. 'Serious investment will lead to more officers and staff, and the unlocking of reform and increased productivity. 'We are confident that with the right support our extraordinary officers and staff can meet these challenges. 'The alternative is the retrenchment we saw under austerity and, most of all, without investment there will be no restoration of the prevention-focused neighbourhood policing, no halving of knife crime and violence against women and girls and police forces left trying to build confidence with fewer officers focused on the issues that matter to the public.' Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has agreed to allow some criminals, including violent and sexual offenders, to be released early for good behaviour Responding to the warning that sentencing reforms could put pressure on frontline services, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said 'we can't build our way out of' prison capacity pressures in the short term. He told Times Radio this morning: 'The risk to public safety I'd highlight is the prospect of our prison system collapsing, which is what we face and why we've had to act.' Mr Pennycook added: 'Sentencing reform is necessary, and we're taking steps to ensure the most dangerous offenders are kept off our streets and that offenders who are released early are tagged and are monitored closely in the community. 'There's an increase of £700 million in probation funding to achieve that.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We are backing the police to protect our communities and keep our streets safe with up to £17.6billion this year, an increase of up to £1.2billion. 'This includes £200million to kickstart putting 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers, PCSOs and special constables that the public will see back on their streets and patrolling communities, as part of our Plan for Change.' A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'This Government inherited prisons in crisis, close to collapse. We will never put the public at risk by running out of prison places again. 'We are building new prisons, on track for 14,000 places by 2031 – the largest expansion since the Victorians. 'Our sentencing reforms will force prisoners to earn their way to release or face longer in jail for bad behaviour, while ensuring the most dangerous offenders can be kept off our streets. 'We will also increase probation funding by up to £700million by 2028/29 to tag and monitor tens of thousands more offenders in the community.'
