Early Release of Prisoners

Robbie Moore Excerpts

Tuesday 7th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)]

As we all contribute to this debate, we must remember who is at the heart of it: those victims and survivors who, let us be honest, have seen politicians come in and out of their life ever since those heinous crimes were first reported—since they first experienced the darkest of moments. Politicians have been trying to get to solutions, but it was only two weeks ago that we heard that the Bradford district and Keighley would finally form part of the national grooming gangs inquiry, and we are still debating the issue at the heart of this, which is the trust between victims and survivors and a state that continues to let them down. That includes national Government, of course, but also local government, and all those organisations that have safeguarding responsibilities.

For decades, many of those victims and survivors have fought hard for accountability and justice, and to be heard by the state. The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse—IICSA—produced 22 solid recommendations, but neither the previous Government nor, to date, this Labour Government have implemented all those recommendations. I simply ask the Minister: why not? That feeds into the issue of trust.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

A constituent of mine is an official, a civil servant who works in support of the IICSA. Having had emotional interviews with so many victims of the crimes that we are discussing today, he cannot fathom why Governments have not yet fully implemented those recommendations. Does the hon. Gentleman share that frustration?

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[Robbie Moore]

I absolutely do share that frustration. If we are serious about addressing one of the biggest national scandals that the country has ever faced, we surely cannot have a scenario in which Professor Alexis Jay produces a detailed report—having done a huge amount of outreach in dealing with those who have experienced child sexual abuse—only for the state to fail in its responsibility to enact its recommendations. I have long called for all those recommendations to be implemented in full. There was a gap during which gang rapes of victims and survivors who had experienced child sexual abuse were not looked at properly. Baroness Casey then produced a detailed report, which came before Parliament in June 2025, recommending a national inquiry, but more than 18 months later, we are still in the same position.

We have had the announcement that Bradford district and Keighley will be investigated in that inquiry, alongside London, but where else are those victims and survivors across the country being let down? This is an important point, because if we are not delivering accountability and justice through an inquiry that now has three years before reporting back to the Government, we are not dealing with the crux of the issue of re-establishing trust between those who have been let down by the state and those in whom that trust needs to be re-established.

That brings me to the very heart of the issue. The Government are now considering releasing prisoners early—perpetrators who have carried out some of the most horrendous crimes that anyone in the country could have imagined. Dual nationals, for instance, have been released early. Last year in Keighley, eight men were convicted of carrying out gang rape, two of whom had dual nationality, and two of whom were sentenced in their absence from court and are now living a life of freedom in Pakistan. Where they are living is common knowledge, but they have escaped justice because the courts did not have the ability, or rather the common sense, to remove their passports during the trial and the sentencing. That is a disgrace, and it only builds on the scenario that the state is not delivering for those victims and survivors.

[Sir John Hayes]

My hon. Friend has done a heroic job in highlighting the perennial problem in his area and beyond it. The reluctance to acknowledge that these grooming gangs were run largely by men of Pakistani origin is exacerbated when those very people, once caught and convicted, are released early. The lack of faith that was bound to come from that reluctance will now be exaggerated—doubled—when these people are let out of prison, where they ought to stay, probably forever.

[Robbie Moore]

I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. In a moment or two, I will read out some descriptions of the feelings, and the frustrations, of the many victims and survivors who are hugely anxious and fearful that their perpetrators will be released early, because the sentences that are being given to those perpetrators are nowhere near long enough. Many of those victims and survivors are having to see sentences served concurrently, which is exactly what happened in the case of perpetrators of gang rape in my constituency decades ago. I had to challenge the Attorney General to call in those cases under the undue leniency scheme so that the sentences could be longer.

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend that the sentence should be life. Those who carry out these heinous crimes should not face weak sentences of up to six or eight years—sometimes much less than that.

The fact that victims and survivors receive a standardised letter—it is not personalised at all—that makes them fearful that their perpetrators may be released on to the streets early brings shame on this Government. I have read those letters. The first paragraph says:

“These changes have been introduced with the aim of improving the effectiveness of sentencing and better managing offenders in the community.”

What absolute cold-heartedness! It is an outrage that the Government are releasing that narrative to victims and survivors. Who on earth signed off the letters that have gone out to survivors who are deeply worried about those perpetrators?

I will take some time to read out to the House how some of those victims and survivors are feeling. I was lucky enough to meet those who are up in the Gallery earlier today. I put on the record my admiration for both Amy Clowrey and David Greenwood from Switalskis, who have worked for decades with victims and survivors from Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford and across the wider Bradford district, to ensure justice is delivered.

Sarah Wilson was just 11 years old when her exploitation began in Rotherham. She was a little girl forced to undergo a virginity test, and her innocence was stolen from her on the same day. For years she was raped and trafficked up and down the country by countless men. For 11 years she fought long and hard for the little girl she once was, and over two years she endured three criminal trials under Operation Stovewood. Those trials have now resulted in 125 years of justice against seven men. But how does that make Sarah feel? She says:

“I feel that all my hard work fighting for that little girl I used to be has been thrown back in my face like it was all for nothing. It seems like they have had a huge slap on the wrist and are allowed back out to reoffend. I’m scared that in a couple of years I could potentially see some of my perpetrators back on the same streets they abused me on. I’m scared of the repercussions. These are some of the most dangerous to walk our streets.”

Those are Sarah’s words after receiving one of these letters. I will continue to read this out, because it is important that the Minister, the Government and the Justice Secretary understand the anxiety that this has caused.

Erin—not her real name—was exposed to child exploitation in the Kirklees area between the ages of 12 and 21. She was subjected to abuse by older Asian—Pakistani—men, many of whom were notorious criminals involved in drugs. A number of the perpetrators are now serving lengthy sentences after Erin assisted the police in recent operations. How does receiving one of these letters from the Government make her feel? She says:

“I am writing in devastation and fear regarding the Government’s plan for the early release of prisoners. I am a survivor of severe, long-term abuse. I spent years of my life bravely fighting through the legal system to bring the men who harmed me to trial. The justice system had already failed me by giving them prison sentences that were shorter than the time I spent fighting them in court. Before that, the systems that were meant to protect me, including social services and the police, failed me too.

Now I feel as though I am being punished and terrified all over again. Hearing that the men who abused me may be released early has completely broken my sense of safety. My family and I still receive threats from these men and their families to this day.”

Early release would be a disaster for her, and I hope the Minister will respond to each and every one of the points I read out.

The name Fiona Goddard is very familiar to this House. She first contacted me when I was elected back in December 2019, in the hope she might find someone willing to fight her corner. I have huge admiration for Fiona. At the age of 13, she was taken into care by Bradford council. She was initially placed at Edgefield children’s home, where she was first exposed to child sexual exploitation. She continued to go missing on a regular basis. Fiona fell victim to a campaign—a campaign—of rape and sexual assault over five years. She believes that up to 100 men were involved. Following a criminal trial in 2019, under Operation Dalesway, nine men were convicted of crimes relating to sexual exploitation.

How does Fiona feel as a result of receiving this letter about how, under this Government, the perpetrators could be released early? She says:

“Since finding out that some of my abusers may be released from prison, my mental and physical health has deteriorated significantly. I no longer feel able to keep myself and my family safe. I have been trying to raise money so that I can move out of the area, because the thought of them being back on the streets… is terrifying.

I always knew that these men would be released one day, but I believed I had more time to rebuild my life and prepare myself for that reality”,

after those convictions. She went on:

“Finding out that they may be released early has completely set me back. I have barely left the house. I feel constantly anxious, frightened and unsafe. I can barely sleep, and when I do, I do not feel rested. This news has affected me so deeply that my physical health has also suffered, resulting in hospital admissions.”

That is the result of this letter from the Government. Who, I ask the Minister, signed off these letters?

Jessica was exposed to child sexual abuse from the age of 12 in Batley, Dewsbury. She was sexually abused by over 50 men in this period. Between the ages of 12 and 16, Jessica was introduced to other men by a girl known to the police, who was older than her. In 2022, as part of Operation Tourway, her perpetrators were finally convicted. How did it make Jessica feel to receive one of these letters from the Government? She said:

“It’s made me feel worthless all over again and like my safety does not matter at all. These people are going to be released back into the town and community where I live. For my safety I think I will have to move.”

She had always known that one day they would be released, but she did not think it would come this soon. She went on:

“It’s just so unfair that they’re not even going to serve the sentence that was handed to them”.

She knew that the sentences given were far too short in the first place. She says:

“When I received the letter, I just started crying. I am now only two years out of court and my case took eight years to get to court. They might not even serve eight years”,

as a result of the reassessment by the Government. She just cannot believe that two years after going to court, she now has to go through the trauma of the perpetrators being released early, which she says is “soul-crushing”.

Carly was 12 when she became involved with a group of Asian men who sexually abused and exploited her. Her abuse continued throughout 2004 to 2011. As part of Operation Tendersea, Carly gave evidence at the trial in late 2018 that secured convictions against three of the men. As a result of receiving one of these letters, she says:

“I am extremely disappointed…that my perpetrators and abusers will only be serving 33% of their sentences, so they are going to be released as early as September. It is just another kick in the teeth.”

She feels incredibly disappointed that what little justice they had been given has been taken away. She says:

“We cannot let people who have abused children for years and decades onto the streets. How is it safe? It is not safe for our children, and it’s not safe for the next generation of children. You are just releasing them back onto the streets for them to commit further offences, with a probation system that is fully broken.”

There are three more quotes that I will read out, and I will not apologise for doing so, because these girls have faced the most horrendous crimes. Jade was the victim of rape aged 14, and waived anonymity to describe the Government’s early release scheme as “an absolute disgrace” that put women and children at risk from scores of rapists and sex offenders freed prematurely. She said that the two rapes left her with a “life sentence”, while the rapist who groomed her will just get a slap on the wrist. Recalling the moment that she read and digested the content of the letter, she said:

“I felt sick, to be honest. I felt like my rapist was being protected again”—

protected by the state—

“It’s an absolute disgrace they can make victims feel back to being unheard and vulnerable. The fear all comes back because you know they’re going to be out so much sooner than you had in your head originally.”

Other than murder, Jade thinks that these are some of the worst crimes that should get the most severe sentences. She continues:

“It’s put such a fire in my belly because it scares me so much that so many predators and paedophiles are getting out, which scares me for my children’s future because they’re just back on the street again.”

That is as a result of this Government.

Angela was first raped by her stepfather when she was just eight years old. She tried to tell people but was ignored by school support staff and social services. The abuse continued until she was 15, when she refused to go home from school until the police got involved. She suffers from long-term post-traumatic stress disorder and hearing loss in both ears from repeated head trauma. This was her response on receiving the letter:

“It took three years for me to get justice and I was let down repeatedly by adults who should have been protecting me. My abuser was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison of which he has only served six. The email received”—

it was an email, not even a letter, that came from the Ministry of Justice—

“was for all intents and purposes the government saying they do not care about the safety of women and children. I feel completely let down and made to feel like my safety and that of other victims isn’t valued. This decision is an insult to women and the children we were who had to endure such violence. We deserve justice, I deserve to have time to put my life together without fear. I should be enjoying my degree and being in my twenties, having the normal stresses of a young woman. Instead I am having to fight for myself all over again. This decision is so obviously wrong that it amazes me it was even a discussion in the first place. It undermines everything we as victims went through.”

Finally, I will read a quote from Charlotte:

“From the age of eight years old until I was 13, I was raped and beaten by my older brother. In February 2025, he was arrested and charged with 20 sexual offences. In June of 2025, he pleaded guilty to nine out of the 20 charges and received a sentence of five years”—

just five years.

“In an email breakdown of his sentence from the judge, it shows all the reductions he got to his sentence for different factors, such as his age and admitting part of what he did. At no point was there an increase for my age or my pain”—

with Charlotte being so young.

“His sentence went from 21 years down to 5, of which he was supposed to serve two thirds…

My children are just starting to get their happy mum back after spending so long scared and broken. My life was ruined at just age 8. I spent 21 years living in fear and embarrassment and questioning why me.”

She said that

“5 years was not long enough and him being able to walk free after a year and a half”

will be hugely detrimental to the rest of her life. Unfortunately, Charlotte now needs medication just to be able to function.

These are the exact words of many of the victims and survivors who have received these letters, and there will be many, many more across the country. Why on earth will the Government not use the time remaining in this place before recess to bring forward emergency legislation to counteract the recommendations included in the Sentencing Act 2026, put a stop to this issue and reassure the many victims and survivors who are sat up in the Gallery right now and across the country that those perpetrators will not be released early?

[Dr Neil Hudson (Epping Forest) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for yet another powerful contribution on this issue. He is an incredibly powerful advocate for the victims of these heinous crimes. I pay tribute to the victims and survivors and thank him for his work. As he is rightly saying, and as our right hon. Friend the Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) has also said, there is time now to do something. There is consensus across the House today for something to be done to stop these people being released early and to save the survivors and victims from the impacts on their physical and mental health, and on their safety, that my hon. Friend has articulated. Does he agree that the Government should listen to the voice of the House and to the voices of survivors and act now?

[Robbie Moore]

I absolutely agree. The reality is that this should not be political—this is about the difference between right and wrong. I have never understood why those in positions of responsibility, be it at a national or local level, would stand in the way and actually try to stop justice and accountability. We have unfortunately all seen that in our own local areas. I have seen it in my own area in West Yorkshire, where, as a matter of fact, the previous leader of Bradford council blocked the attempt to get an inquiry into the Bradford district, and the Mayor of West Yorkshire did not want an inquiry to focus on West Yorkshire. They all changed their minds following the release of the Casey review in 2025 and are now advocating for complete justice and accountability to follow—quite rightly. However, the point is that people in positions of responsibility should not have to be dragged to the position of advocating the difference between right and wrong.

That is why I plead with the Government and the Minister to do the right thing, which I am sure she could do right now, in summing up today’s debate: reassure the victims and survivors that the letter that was sent out was wrong, that it should not have been signed off, and that it should not have created the huge levels of anxiety, fear and concern that the victims and survivors have faced. I simply ask the Minister to do the right thing when she sums up at the Dispatch Box.

That brings me back to my initial point: this is about trust. The reality is that many of us fought hard to get that national inquiry and to get the attention on to our local areas. However, if victims and survivors do not trust the state to be on their side and feel that their perpetrators are going to be released early, why on earth would they come forward and contribute to the national grooming gangs inquiry? With the statutory inquiry into group child sexual exploitation beginning imminently, it is vital that it is not undermined by victims being afraid to speak out against their abusers for fear of unduly lenient or reduced sentences or, indeed, their perpetrators being released early.

The reality is that cases such as Fiona’s are a direct consequence of the decisions taken by this Government and this Justice Secretary. They cannot seriously think that the best way to manage resources is to allow dangerous rapists and abusers back on to the streets before justice is served.

I have a few questions for the Minister. What is she doing to provide reassurance to those victims and survivors who have rightly raised their concerns? How is she categorising “dangerous offenders”? That question has been raised by many Members, but so far the Government have been unable to answer it. How many of these rapists, paedophiles and those who have carried out some of the most heinous crimes are going to be realised? Will the Minister confirm to Sarah, Erin, Fiona, Jessica, Carly, Jade, Angela and Charlotte, and the many other victims and survivors who have received these letters, that their perpetrators will not be released as a result of the Government sending out these ridiculous, cold-hearted letters?

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[Dr Mullan]

Mr Speaker could not have been clearer about the reasonable expectations of Members of this House in relation to the early release of serious sexual offenders and others into their constituencies.

What did the Minister, the hon. Member for Rother Valley, say during the UQ? He said that the numbers were in the impact assessment. He repeated that twice, and he was absolutely wrong. I have read the impact assessment. Every Member who has read it will confirm that it does not contain the breakdown of offenders and their crimes that we asked for. What it contains is a description of a qualitative process of internal discussion between departmental officials to arrive at a broad estimate of the effect on the overall prison population. There is no table showing how many rapists or child groomers are going to be released. We know that is not just an omission because the Prisons Minister himself, Lord Timpson, said on “Channel 4 News” last week:

“It is impossible for us to say who will be released, where and when.”

“Impossible”—his word, not ours. He was asked again and again, but could not answer. The Minister at the Dispatch Box told Parliament that the numbers were available to us all. The Prisons Minister told Channel 4 that it was not possible to provide the numbers. Only one of them is right. What is the truth? I think that they actually do not know. I think the Ministry of Justice did not model the eligible cohort by offence type before passing the legislation. It pulled a lever of this magnitude, affecting potentially thousands of the most serious offenders in our prisons and their victims, and it did not even know what sort of vile criminals it would be letting out of prison early. That is a disgrace.

[Robbie Moore]

We are in this ridiculous scenario where after a huge, long fight, we now have an independent inquiry focusing on Bradford and Keighley for the national grooming gangs inquiry, yet as that process starts, perpetrators who undertook some of those most heinous crimes are being released early. There is therefore a risk that those victims and survivors across the Bradford district will be less willing to come forward and give evidence and contribute to the inquiry. Does that not concern my hon. Friend?

[Dr Mullan]

I can tell my hon. Friend that it is not just a risk; it is a reality. A number of the victims we met earlier said that they were speaking to people who wanted to come forward, and to speak and contribute to the inquiry, but they saw what was happening to those who had spoken up and who had an offender sent to prison, and who now see that the offender will be released even earlier. They ask, “Why would I risk these people being let out even earlier than they otherwise would have been?”

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[Catherine Atkinson]

What I wish to do is pay tribute to the work of our prison and probation officers, many of whom do some of the hardest jobs in public life.

The right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) spoke about the need to speed up criminal justice, about the number of people on remand and about the need to reduce reoffending, which is what this Government are doing. He also spoke about foreign national offenders, and this Government are deporting such offenders in greater numbers than ever before.

The hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild) criticised the time taken to lift the cap on sitting days, although it was the Conservatives who capped sitting days in the first place. The hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) repeated the famous quote that justice delayed is justice denied. That is absolutely true, and this Government are taking action on it.

[Robbie Moore]

Will the Minister give way?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I will not give way.

A number of hon. Members have spoken passionately about victims, and rightly so. We understand that these issues will be difficult and upsetting for many victims and their families, and victims must remain at the heart of our justice system. The Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), talked about wanting never to see releases earlier than would be expected, but we have seen emergency release after emergency release for years, and we are taking action to stop that happening going forward. We saw 10,000 early releases under the Conservatives, and it is right that we communicate openly with victims who have opted into the victim contact scheme. That is why victims who are engaged in the scheme continue to receive information about an offender’s release and have the opportunity, quite rightly, to make representations about licence conditions.

[Robbie Moore]

Will the Minister give way?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I will not.

Licence conditions include exclusion zones and a non-contact requirement where appropriate. All victims will also have a clear route to request the information that they need to plan for an offender’s release through the new dedicated helpline. We need to contrast that with the chaotic approach that we saw under the Conservative party. Victims were told only days before their offenders were let out, and in some cases they were not told at all. No Government want to make these choices, but we are transparent, supporting victims and ensuring that they are properly informed throughout the process.