Early release is a betrayal...where is the justice for us?

THE heartbroken parents of a four-year-old girl killed by a speeding driver in a stolen car have accused Sir Keir Starmer of a “betrayal” as killers and rapists are set to be released early from prison.

- By Michael Knowles Home Affairs Editor

Glenn and Becky Youens declared true justice must mean “consequences that match the harm caused”, adding: “Anything less is a betrayal — not just to us but to every family still living with loss.”

Their emotional plea came after Britain’s most senior officer Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, warned that criminals released early will reoffend.

Labour’s sentencing tsar David Gauke has recommended that those sentenced to more than four years should be let out after serving just half of their jail term behind bars.

Aidan McAteer, then 23, was jailed for nine years and four months after hitting Violet-Grace Youens in a stolen car in St Helens in 2017.

Parents Glenn and Becky told the Daily Express: “Their plan to release prisoners early to ease overcrowding would mean that people like McAteer — people who kill children, who shatter families — could spend even less time behind bars.

“We've been told these measures are necessary to manage prison populations but what about managing the impact on victims’ families? Where is the justice for us?

“We wake up every day to a home that’s quieter and emptier.

“We try to carry on but the pain doesn’t go away.

“Meanwhile, people like McAteer could be walking free long before they have earned that freedom.

Recalls

“When politicians talk about balancing the system they forget that the scales have already tipped — against victims, against families, against justice.”

Under Labour’s proposals, criminals convicted of manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, conspiracy to murder and GBH will be among those let out after serving only half of their sentence behind bars.