9,300 domestic abusers are set to be released: Tories and charity bosses accuse Andy Burnham of putting vulnerable women at risk
More than 9,000 domestic abusers are set to walk Britain’s streets within three years under Labour‘s early prison release scheme.
In plans set to terrify survivors, 3,000 perpetrators will be freed annually before serving full sentences, the Daily Mail can reveal.
It follows the Prime Minister green-lighting controversial plans to release some of the worst criminals from prison early, excluding rapists and the most serious sex offenders.
Andy Burnham had paused the scheme after it emerged the killers of PC Andrew Harper would be among those freed.
Last night domestic abuse victims, charities and Mr Burnham’s own MPs tore into the Government for allowing thousands of abusers back on to Britain’s streets before their jail terms are up.
According to analysis from the Tories, 9,371 of these criminals could be out of prison by the end of this Parliament in 2029.
Once free, they would be fitted with electronic tags to track their movements and alert authorities if they move outside of set zones.
But shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy last night branded it ‘disgraceful’ that domestic abusers are eligible for early release, even with such measures in place.
More than 9,000 domestic abusers are set to walk Britain’s streets within three years under Labour’s early prison release scheme (Pictured: Andy Burnham on Sunday)
Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy, pictured, branded it ‘disgraceful’ that domestic abusers are now eligible for early release
He said: ‘Labour had to be dragged into this U-turn on [excluding rapists from] early release after campaigning from victims. But it clearly does not go far enough and is putting victims’ lives at risk. The clock is ticking… Labour need to ensure the remaining sex offenders and other serious criminals are excluded.’
And Reform UK’s equality spokesman Suella Braverman accused Labour of ‘throwing thousands of traumatised victims to the wolves’ by granting early release to violent abusers.
She said: ‘Not only is it deeply traumatising for these victims to know their attackers will be free to roam the streets nearby – many will be literally fearing for their life.’
Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs said: ‘If these figures are anywhere near the level of abusers set to be let out, then it is critical the Government is transparent about the scale of releases, so we can be confident the right level of resource is in place to keep victims safe.’
Last night Mr Burnham was also facing a backbench mutiny.
Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, Allison Gardner, told this newspaper: ‘For survivors, the prospect of an abusive partner being released early is frightening, and their safety must come first.’
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, said: ‘With patchy rehabilitation in prisons, and less time served, there is no reassurance that these manipulative aggressors will have changed.’
Last month, the Prime Minister paused prisoner release reforms after learning two men convicted of killing PC Harper, 28, would have benefited. Both were passengers in a car that dragged the policeman down a road after he responded to a burglary report in 2019.
Following a backlash, Mr Burnham announced that no prisoners would be released under the scheme, designed to ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, until an urgent review had been carried out.
The Prime Minister said ministers would examine the policy in detail to ensure public safety remained the overriding priority before any changes were implemented.
The family of PC Harper learned this week that two of his killers remain eligible for early release after the review. Calling the move a betrayal of his legacy, Aileen O’Connor, chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, vowed to launch a legal challenge over the move.
Yesterday, Tory peer Baroness Bertin, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on domestic violence, said ‘lives will certainly be lost if this [scheme] isn’t thought through properly’.
She added: ‘The threat abusers can pose to victims on release can’t be underestimated.’
Under the scheme, which will take effect in October, criminals who faced serving two-thirds of their sentence before being considered for release will now be let out after only half their term.
Less serious offenders will be released after serving just a third of their sentence instead of half.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones, pictured, insisted that anyone eligible for early release would be ‘under the strictest licensing arrangements’
There was a 28 per cent increase in offenders being recalled to prison this year after breaking the terms of their licence agreements, according to Government data (Stock Photo)
Alice Russell-Harris, of abuse charity Refuge, said: ‘The PM took on the mission to halve violence against women. This decision risks undermining that commitment.’
Domestic abuse is not categorised as a specific offence – making it difficult to estimate the true extent of abusers up for release.
The Conservatives used Ministry of Justice data to calculate the number of criminals prosecuted for breach of a restraining order, stalking, controlling or coercive behaviour or intentional strangulation who would be eligible for release.
A MoJ spokesman said: ‘This is a speculative figure. It wrongly assumes prison population and sentencing patterns will remain unchanged throughout Parliament, while also counting people who have not yet committed offences.’
Abusers of women who were freed to reoffend
Lover killed in fall as she tried to flee his beating
Leonidas Georgalla was jailed for more than a year for fracturing his ex-wife’s skull, but after his release from prison went on to kill his new girlfriend.
Georgalla, 54, was jailed for 20 months in 2008 for driving wildly in New Zealand while his terrified wife clung to the car bonnet, before coming loose and suffering the head injury.
After his release he came to Britain and later began a relationship with Kathleen John, 39. But he began beating her and police banned him from contacting her.
He was jailed for 12 years in November 2023 for killing Ms John, pictured, when she fell from a third-floor window in an effort to escape him as he was attacking her.
Georgalla admitted manslaughter and breaching a restraining order.
Detectives said injuries on Ms John’s body that showed she had been assaulted by Georgalla before the fall. Georgalla refused to tell police why he killed Ms John, who had worked as an NHS nurse.
Detective Inspector John Marriott said: ‘Leonidas Georgalla is a danger to women… At the time of Kathleen’s death, there was a restraining order against him for previous abuse she had suffered. He had been convicted of domestic violence in other countries.’
Leonidas Georgalla was jailed for more than a year for fracturing his ex-wife’s skull, but after his release from prison went on to kill his new girlfriend
He was jailed for 12 years in November 2023 for killing Kathleen John, pictured, when she fell from a third-floor window in an effort to escape him as he was attacking her
Ambushed mother and slashed her in face
Mark Brazant ambushed married mother Josephine Conlon, 36 – slashing her across the face and neck, narrowly missing her jugular vein – six days after he was let out of jail in December 2019.
Brazant, 50, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was supposed to be escorted to a secure address in Ealing, west London, after his release from HMP Thameside. He had being jailed for three offences of battery and one of common assault, all against lone women.
Instead, he was freed to stalk Mrs Conlon as she pushed her baby in a pram in broad daylight.
CCTV captured the vicious assault and Brazant was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in 2022.
Giving evidence at the trial, Mrs Conlon, pictured, said: ‘I remember him being above me.
‘I think from that original shove your mind goes into overdrive trying to [understand] what is happening.
‘I remember thinking he had pushed me into the driveway because he was going to rape me, but he didn’t, he just started hitting me.
‘There were lots of blows and I realised I was being stabbed. I was screaming a lot because I was not on the road and I wanted someone to hear me. I was ducking a lot and trying to get away.’
Brazant was convicted of attempted murder and ordered to be detained in a mental hospital for 11 years.
Mark Brazant ambushed married mother Josephine Conlon – slashing her across the face and neck, narrowly missing her jugular vein
Mrs Conlon, pictured, said: ‘I remember him being above me’
Inflicted over 70 injuries on partner in murder
David McCorkell murdered Diane Dyer in 2019 in an ‘orgy of violence’.
McCorkell inflicted 71 injuries on his 61-year-old partner and strangled her during the attack in south London.
Durng his trial at the Old Bailey McCorkell, 61, was described as a prolific abuser of women who was jailed in 2002 for robbery after he beat a woman in a hospital.
Despite only receiving a two-year sentence for robbery he was not released until 2015 because he was viewed as such a threat to women.
After he was freed, McCorkell was jailed again in 2017 for 27 months for burglary.
After this sentence, he began dating Ms Dyer, pictured, in 2019 and had only known her for three months when he murdered her that July. Judge Richard Marks described McCorkell as an ‘evil bully’ who had ‘an appalling criminal record’ of 22 convictions.
Jailing him for a minimum of 21 and half years in December 2019, Judge Marks said: ‘This was a savage, vicious and brutal killing.’
Ms Dyer lived on her own and prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said she was ‘extremely vulnerable prior to her relationship and during her relationship.’
David McCorkell murdered Diane Dyer in 2019 in an ‘orgy of violence’
After this sentence, he began dating Ms Dyer, pictured, in 2019 and had only known her for three months when he murdered her that July
Stabbed pregnant girlfriend to death
Shaine March murdered his girlfriend Alana Odysseos, 32, when she was eight weeks pregnant in 2024.
He had previously stabbed a 17-year-old teenager to death in 2000 and was released on licence in 2013, but was recalled to prison later that year after he was convicted of assaulting his then-pregnant girlfriend. He was released in February 2018.
When March, 47, started going out with Ms Odysseos, pictured, probation services were told of the relationship but stopped monitoring him after he told them the relationship had ended amicably.
But on July 22, 2024, March stabbed her 19 times with a kitchen knife and was jailed for 42 years at the Old Bailey last October.
His sentence was increased to a whole life order after the Attorney General said the prison term was unduly lenient.
Shaine March murdered his girlfriend Alana Odysseos when she was eight weeks pregnant
Prosecutors said in the months before her death, Ms Odysseos confided in friends and family that March had started to become violent and abusive towards her.
When he was arrested on suspicion of murder he shouted ‘I stabbed her, I killed her’ and ‘I don’t regret nothing… allow me to rot in jail. I don’t ever want to come out.’
Samantha Yelland, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘His previous offending revealed a pattern of emotional and physical abuse, and he showed no remorse when he was being arrested.’
March was also convicted of assault in 1995.
