UN to investigate 'national scandal' of IPP prisoners

Bombshell letter proves David Lammy agrees the indefinite jail terms are a 'grave injustice'

- writes Amy-Clare Martin

The United Nations will investigate whether Britain is breaching human rights law by arbitrarily detaining prisoners trapped on abolished indefinite jail terms, The Independent can reveal.

Campaigners and their legal team are launching a landmark complaint on behalf of five men who have served a combined total of 84 years incarcerated under imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail terms, including for minor crimes, as highlighted by The Independent.

The case, due to be lodged with the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention today, includes a bombshell letter from new justice secretary David Lammy, which proves he agrees the jail term is a “grave injustice” which causes “simply horrendous” mental trauma.

The letter, written in 2021 when he was shadow justice secretary, says the implementation of the jail term was “tragically flawed”, adding: “It is now painfully clear that the IPP sentence was far too broad, and many low-risk offenders are serving IPP sentences today for committing minor offences in the past.”

Although the sentence was scrapped in 2012 following a damning ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), it was not abolished retrospectively, and successive governments have resisted calls to resentence more than 2,500 still languishing without a release date.

However, following his appointment as justice secretary and deputy prime minister in last week’s cabinet reshuffle, campaign group IPP Committee in Action is calling for Mr Lammy to finally put right the miscarriage of justice.

International human rights expert Dr Muin Boase told The Independent the jail term was a “national scandal” and akin to the miscarriages of justice uncovered in the Post Office scandal.

The five cases being sent to the UN, which have all been highlighted by The Independent over the past 18 months, include: