Lisa Forgione court assessment

 
The following is a write up of  Lisa Forgione court assessment

Allegation (as amended at the hearing):

As a registered Practitioner Psychologist ([PYL039401) your fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct. In that:

1. At an unknown time between October 2019 and 12 July 2021, you breached professional boundaries with Service User A in that you entered into an emotional and/or romantic relationship with him while he was assigned to you at HMP Isle of Wight.

2. On 6 September 2021, you provided a response to security questions from the Ministry of Justice in which you stated you had never been in a relationship with Service User A or given him the impression that you would want a relationship with him, when this was not the case.

3. On 6 September 2021, you provided a response to security questions from the Ministry of Justice in which you stated that Service User A had disclosed the presence of a relationship between yourself and him for reasons as set out in Schedule A, when this was not the case.

4. Between 25 December 2021 and 15 February 2022, you breached professional boundaries and/or did not act in the best interests of Service User A by carrying out the course of conduct set out in Schedule B.

5. On 16 May 2022, you breached professional boundaries and/or did not act in the best interests of Service User A during the purple visit by carrying out the course of conduct set out in Schedule C.

6. On 20 May 2022, you wrote a letter to the HCPC in which you stated that you were not in a sexual, financial or emotional relationship with Service User A when this was not the case.

7. On 24 July 2022, you breached professional boundaries and/or did not act in the best interests of Service User A by sending him a birthday card detailed in Schedule D.

8. Your conduct in relation to allegations 1, 4, 5 and/or 7 was sexual in nature.

9. Your conduct in relation to allegations 2, 3 and/or 6 was dishonest.

10. The matters set out in allegations 1 to 9 above constitute misconduct

11. By reason of your misconduct your fitness to practise is impaired.

Schedule A

You said, “My guess is that this may be linked to his personality difficulties, which make it difficult for him to regulate his emotions and deal with perceived rejection and abandonment. This combined with his own sense of victimisation and high levels of vengeful thinking may have led him to behave in this way in an attempt to harm me and cause me distress for leaving him/my job and letting him down.”

Schedule B

25/12/2021: Telephone contact between registrant and Service User A via the ward payphone
04/01/2022: Four-hour call between Service User A and registrant
08/01/2022: Call from registrant to Service User A
09/01/2022: Call between Service User A and registrant
16/01/2022: Four-hour call between Service User A and registrant
23/01/2022: Call between Service User A and registrant finishing at 04:00 on
24/01/2022
29/01/2022: Several hour-long call between Service User A and registrant
01/02/2022: Several hour-long call between Service User A and registrant
02/02/2022: Several hour-long call between Service User A and registrant
03/02/2022: Moonpig Valentine’s Day card received by Service User A from the registrant
04/02/2022: SKYPE session between Service User A and registrant. Registrant observed to share photographs of herself in a bikini and topless with her arms across her breasts during the call
06/02/2022 SKYPE: call between registrant and Service User A followed immediately by phone call between Service User A and registrant
07/02/2022 SKYPE: call between registrant and Service User A
08/02/2022 SKYPE: call between registrant and Service User A including the registrant showing Service User A photos of other men and asking him to rate them
10/02/2022 SKYPE call between registrant and Service User A
12/02/2022 Mobile telephone call between Service User A and registrant
12/02/2022 SKYPE call between registrant and Service User A
14/02/2022 SKYPE call between registrant and Service User A
15/02/2022 SKYPE call between registrant and Service User A

Schedule C

I. You told Service User A, “You make me happy. I will miss your face. I’m seeing you in less that two weeks I’m really excited. I’m with you to the end” or words to that effect.

ii. After Service User A asked you what side of the bed was his, you demonstrated the side of the bed to him.

iii. You agreed to send photographs of yourself to Service User A.

iv. When Service User A spoke about your ‘peach’, you stood up and showed him your clothed buttocks.

Schedule D

i. Cover of the card has photographs of you in a bikini and topless (with an arm across your breasts).

ii. The card contains the following message:

Words are not enough to express my feelings for you. You make my life worth living. You bring smiles to my face even in my worst days and you always show me how much you love me and care for me. Even the darkest thoughts fade away when you smile at me. And when you look me in the eyes my world shines as bright as you. You are my best friend and my lover. I feel like the luckiest woman on Earth because I have the most wonderful man by my side. Thank you for being my rock.

I hope your birthday is as beautiful and full of love as you are. You deserve only the best, and I only wish that for you. May life bring you everything you are dreaming about.

Happy birthday bumbo mio…
This is the first of many birthdays together.
I’m sure we’ll make it special together and we’ll remember it forever for this reason.

Più di ieri, meno di domani
Always and forever
Lisa xxx

Prison nurse struck off over smuggling drugs into jail

 

A prison nurse who was jailed over a drug smuggling operation has been struck off.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing was told Keira Burton had been convicted for her role in smuggling cannabis, spice, ketamine, phones and SIM cards into HMP Preston and jailed for 20 months in March 2025.

The fitness to practise panel concluded Burton's actions represented a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse and were fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.

She said she "fully accepted" that she had "lost a career that I loved and worked extremely hard for, for many years".

Burton, who became a registered nurse in 2013, was arrested in December 2023, when she was found in a van outside the prison with drugs, cash and a pair of shoes that had hollowed-out spaces in them.

The panel noted that she had placed inmate patients who could have used the drugs at risk of harm.

It found that Burton acted "so as to put patients at unwarranted risk of harm".

The report cited sentencing comments from the judge in Burton's case, noting he had told her: "You have, in fact, rehabilitated yourself, but I keep coming back to your position in prison and the part that you played in this conspiracy and the onward supply was often done whilst you, Miss Burton, were engaged in your clinical duties.

"Your role in prison was to help vulnerable people, not to furnish them with poison that would accelerate their decline."

The panel determined Burton's criminal behaviour brought the nursing profession into disrepute.

It also found she had undermined the high standards expected of registered nurses and breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession, which included acting in the best interests of people at all times, preserving safety and keeping to the laws of the country in which she was practising.

The panel took into account Burton had signed an "agreed removal admissions form" in September, in which she indicated her admission to the regulatory concerns against her.

'Lost a career'

It also considered Burton's written statement in support of her application for agreed removal from the NMC register.

It said: 'I take full responsibility for my actions in this crime and fully understand that my behaviour and poor choices, whether through coercion or not, gave the NMC no option but to suspend my registration.

"In over a decade within the NHS I have never had a single complaint or issue raised about my practice prior to this, something which my professional and character references provided in January 2024 confirm.

She added: "I deeply regret my actions and that I have tarnished an otherwise perfect career and have associated the NMC with my actions, but I have also accepted that I will never again work within healthcare."

Burton, who said she had a new career outside of nursing, has 28 days to appeal against the decision.

A Message to My Viewers

 A Message to My Viewers

With my parole hearing coming up in November, I have a very busy schedule ahead. There may be times when I am unable to post anything, so please bear with me.

I am fully committed to working with the professionals supporting me, preparing for my release, and continuing these important discussions in my own voice.

Once again, a thousand thanks to everyone who continues to view and support the blog. Your patience and encouragement mean a great deal.

Yours sincerely,
The VoiceForCons Team

Prison worker who shared inmate information jailed

 A prison staff member who shared information about an inmate with a friend has been jailed for 21 months.

Courtney Harrison, an administrative staff member at HMP Moorland, near Doncaster, shared details about prisoner George Tunney in 2023, which later ended up being shared to Tunney's phone

Harrison, 27, of Edlington, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting misconduct in a public office and unauthorised access to computer material.

She had also searched for the files of high-profile murderers Lucy Letby, Harold Shipman and Rose West, which Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson described as "completely improper".

But the "really serious aspect" of her offending was related to the Tunney searches, he said.

Harrison's friend and former colleague had "some sort of connection" to the inmate, the judge said, and had asked her to share confidential information about him over email.

"[Harrison] is not a woman with great confidence and could not reject the somewhat predatory request of this woman," he added.

She had seen the friend as a "sister" and had a "desperation to maintain a friendship" with her, the court heard.

Tunney absconded soon after receiving the information for a number of weeks and was later found in the south of England, the court heard, although there was "no direct evidence" that the information had helped him to do so.

Judge Richardson said Harrison was "very young", having been aged 23 at the time of offending, and was "immature and lonely".

But he said an "example had to be made" when prison officials breached the "considerable responsibility and trust" placed in them.

"It is a very sad day when somebody like you needs to be sent to prison, but good people on occasions commit wrongs, and the wrongs you committed were criminal and they were serious," he told Harrison.

'Stupid' prison officer searched cons' computer records and phoned one under fake name

 

HMP Berwyn prison officer Cally White was investigated after information came to light suggesting she was "forming inappropriate relationships"

A "naïve" prison officer illegally accessed computer records on behalf of two Merseyside drug dealers and repeatedly spoke to one of them on the phone under a false name. Cally White, 26, checked North Wales prison HMP Berwyn's database over 100 times in respect of prisoner Ryan Hamid and his associate David Blackburn.

Mold Crown Court heard White was employed as a prison officer at HMP Berwyn in May 2023. But in November the following year information came to light suggesting White had been "forming inappropriate relationships" with prisoners.

One of the prisoners was Hamid, of Kirkby, with the contact continuing following his release. Hamid was later recalled to prison, but sent to HMP Altcourse in Fazakerley, where he remained in contact with White, who was listed as an approved phone contact under the alias "Sophie Wright".

The court heard during their calls, which were recorded, the pair discussed work, shift patterns and other prisoners and staff at Berwyn. One of the prisoners discussed was Hamid's friend Blackburn, also from Kirkby, and it was implied in the calls she had checked the systems to provide an update on his status.

Merseyside Police officer's secret life holidaying and partying with criminals

Mum said 'I believed they were the last moments of my life' after thug attacked her

The Daily Mail reported in total White accessed Hamid's prison record around 60 times including his personal details, offence details, release dates and case notes.

She also accessed Blackburn's records 44 times, including a record after he and his cellmate were found with a number of illicit items including an iPhone.

It was reported the prosecution accepted White had pleaded on the basis she was not in a romantic relationship with Hamid, nor that cash paid into her bank account was from Blackburn or had been facilitated by Hamid. She pleaded guilty to unauthorised access of the computer system.

White's counsel said: "She knows how stupid she has been. She is not just sorry but deeply ashamed." It was heard the Masters degree-educated woman had a stable relationship, a new job and was returning to university to continue further studies.

The presiding judge, Recorder John Philpotts, told her: "Corruption undermines the whole fabric of the work prisons do and other people must be deterred from behaving in the way you did."

White, of Bagillt, Flintshire, was told her "behaviour shows an enormous level of naivety" as she was sentenced to a nine months in prison, suspended for a year. She was also ordered to complete 10 days of rehabilitation, 200 hours of community service and pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs.

The ECHO previously reported how Hamid, nicknamed "Badger" because of a white streak in his hair, led a gang that supplied drugs in North Wales.

The group was said to have "made thousands of pounds out of the misery of others" and spent the profits of the illicit venture on spa days, holidays and trips to Chester Races.

"Badger" orchestrated the sale of heroin and crack cocaine, recruiting other members of the gang from Liverpool and North Wales to deal on his behalf. The gang was caught when officers raided a house in Bagillt and caught Hamid and his lieutenants resupplying the operation.

The leader was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in October 2020, with the presiding judge describing the operation as "relentless, arrogant and determined to exploit vulnerable clients for greed".

Blackburn was jailed as part of the investigation into the encrypted EncroChat messaging platform. Identified as the user of the "super.biking" phone handle, he was said to have worked with fellow Kirkby man David Pinnington, who went by "loftyhail", and others to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis across the Merseyside area. He was jailed for 11 years in December 2021.

Officer at HMP Berwyn sentenced for illegally accessing prisoner database

 *A “naïve” prison officer at HMP Berwyn has been handed a nine-month suspended sentence after she admitted accessing sensitive information on a prison computer on behalf of a prisoner.

Mold Crown Court heard how the 26-year-old woman was employed as an officer in May 2023. In November the following year, information came to light suggesting she had been “forming inappropriate relationships”. The court heard that during calls with one man, who had left Berwyn and was being held at another prison, they discussed staff shift patterns and other prisoners at Berwyn. 

The officer spoke to the prisoner on the telephone under a false name. She checked the prison database more than 100 times in respect of the prisoner and an associate of his, when she had no valid reason to do so.

The prosecution accepted that the woman had pleaded on the basis she was not in a romantic relationship with the prisoner, nor that cash paid into her bank account had come from either the prisoner or his associate. She pleaded guilty to unauthorised access of the computer system.

The woman’s counsel said: “She knows how stupid she has been. She is not just sorry but deeply ashamed.” It was heard the Master’s degree-educated woman had a stable relationship, a new job and was returning to university to continue further studies.

The presiding judge, Recorder John Philpotts, told her: “Corruption undermines the whole fabric of the work prisons do and other people must be deterred from behaving in the way you did.” In addition to her suspended sentence she was ordered to complete 10 days of rehabilitation, do 200 hours of community service, and pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs.

Early Release, Prison Reform, and the Victims the Justice System Is Failing

 Trigger warning: This post discusses sexual assault, childhood abuse, violence, grooming, drugs, and other potentially distressing subjects. Please feel free to read a different post if these topics may upset or harm you.

While I understand the anger surrounding the early-release scheme, part of me believes that the public does not fully understand what is happening inside the prison system.

Before I continue, I want to make something clear: I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I was abused from the age of three until I was seventeen. It was a daily occurrence that continued throughout almost my entire childhood.

Because of my experiences, this is an extremely difficult and personal subject for me to discuss.

I am currently serving an indeterminate life sentence, so the early-release scheme will not affect me personally. What I am about to say may upset or anger some people, but I ask that you bear with me and try to understand the point I am making.

A Victim Is Still a Victim

A crime is a crime, regardless of the offence.

There has been discussion in the news about Debbie Adlam, the mother of a police officer who was killed, and her attempt to prevent her son’s killers from being released early. I completely understand why a grieving mother would fight against the early release of the people responsible for her son’s death.

She also raised concerns about sex offenders.

I do not like sex offenders, paedophiles, groomers, or anyone who abuses children. Because of what happened to me, I have deeply personal reasons for feeling that way.

However, we also need to ask some difficult questions.

What is the difference, from the victim’s point of view, between being sexually assaulted and being stabbed, beaten, threatened with a gun, or seriously injured during a robbery? What about the people who give drugs to children and force them to sell those drugs? What about human traffickers who exploit children or smuggle people into dangerous situations where they may die?

The offences may be different, and the risks posed by individual offenders must be assessed properly. But the people harmed by those crimes are all victims.

If someone assaulted your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, child, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister, how would you feel? If someone broke into your home and injured somebody you loved, would you consider that crime unimportant simply because it was not a sexual offence?

Of course not.

That is my point. Victims of every kind of crime deserve to be taken seriously.

The Early-Release Scheme Is a Farce

The government says certain prisoners will not qualify for early release. Sex offenders, terrorists, and life-sentence prisoners are among those excluded.

However, everyone who enters prison goes through the same basic process: arrest, court, conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment. Every prisoner is also a human being.

That does not mean every offence is equally serious or that every prisoner should receive the same sentence. It means that the justice system should be fair, consistent, and focused on protecting the public.

If rehabilitation is necessary, it should be available to everyone. If somebody poses a genuine danger, that risk should be managed properly. Decisions should be based on evidence, behaviour, risk, and public safety—not simply on political pressure or the need to create emergency prison spaces.

The real question is this: why has the government allowed the prison system to reach a point where emergency early release is considered necessary?

Who Created the Prison-Capacity Crisis?

Over roughly the last fifteen years, numerous prisons have been closed, while only a small number of replacements have been built.

So whose fault is it that the country is running out of prison spaces?

The answer seems clear to me: successive governments have allowed this crisis to develop.

The public is then given slogans and selective information designed to make emergency policies sound reasonable. Meanwhile, the deeper problems remain untouched.

I have been in prison for approximately thirty-five years. From what I have witnessed, prisons have become human warehouses and money-making operations.

There is very little meaningful rehabilitation. Resettlement support is inadequate, and many people receive nowhere near enough help when preparing for release.

Thousands of prisoners are reportedly being held beyond their minimum tariff dates. This contributes to overcrowding, but the reasons why people remain imprisoned are rarely explained properly to the public.

At the same time, large numbers of released prisoners are eventually recalled to custody.

Where is the effective resettlement?

Where is the rehabilitation?

Where is the consistent support from probation services?

Releasing people without stable housing, treatment, employment opportunities, mental-health support, or proper supervision does not protect the public. It simply creates a cycle in which people leave prison, struggle, breach their licence conditions or reoffend, and are then returned to an already overcrowded system.

Prisoners Must Also Make Choices

The prison system has a responsibility to provide genuine opportunities for change. However, prisoners also have personal responsibility.

There are some realities that must be acknowledged:

1. Meaningful rehabilitation is extremely limited in many prisons.
2. Completing courses does not automatically prevent somebody from reoffending. A person must make a genuine decision to change their behaviour.
3. Prisoners who choose to become drug-free may give themselves a better chance of rebuilding their lives after release.
4. Those who return to drugs, alcohol, violence, and criminal behaviour are more likely to return to prison.

People need support, but they must also choose to use that support.

The problem is that prisons are full of drugs. Drug-related debt contributes to bullying, intimidation, corruption, and serious violence. Without tackling addiction and the supply of drugs inside prisons, claims about rehabilitation will continue to sound hollow.

Where Is the Rehabilitation?

If the government is going to reform the justice system, it needs to do it properly.

Do not simply announce that certain categories of prisoners will not be released and pretend that the problem has been solved.

Provide effective rehabilitation for every prisoner who needs it.

Help people address addiction.

Provide proper education, psychological treatment, skills, housing support, employment preparation, and release planning.

Assess each prisoner carefully and manage genuine risks.

Most importantly, stop making promises to victims and the wider public while continuing to operate a system that repeatedly fails both.

Prison Labour and Private Profit

Many parts of the prison system have been privatised or outsourced. Depending on the prison, this may include education, healthcare, canteen services, maintenance, workshops, and other departments.

Over the years, I have been held in many prisons. I have seen prisoners working on contracts connected to large outside companies, including tool-hire and welding-related work.

Prisoners may receive only a very small weekly wage for this labour.

If an ordinary business outside prison employed people for such low wages, serious questions would be asked about exploitation. Yet when it happens inside prison, it is often defended as work experience or rehabilitation.

That raises important questions.

Who benefits financially from prison labour?

Where does the money go?

How much is being reinvested into prisoners’ education, rehabilitation, treatment, and preparation for release?

Work can be an important part of rehabilitation. It can teach responsibility, discipline, teamwork, and useful skills. But it must be meaningful, ethical, and connected to a genuine pathway towards employment after release.

Otherwise, it risks becoming exploitation disguised as rehabilitation.

The Entire System Needs Reform

The justice system needs a massive overhaul. In fact, the political decisions surrounding prisons also need to be examined.

Victims are being failed.

The public is being failed.

Prison staff are being placed under enormous pressure.

Prisoners who genuinely want to change are being failed.

The answer is not simply to release people early because there are no available cells. Nor is the answer to keep people locked away indefinitely without meaningful rehabilitation, treatment, or a realistic route towards progression.

The answer is to build a justice system that protects the public, respects victims, holds offenders accountable, and provides genuine opportunities for change.

Prisons should not be human warehouses.

They should not exist primarily to generate profit.

They should be safe, controlled environments where punishment, rehabilitation, education, treatment, and preparation for release are taken seriously.

Until the public begins asking where the money goes, why rehabilitation is failing, why drugs remain widely available, and why so many people return to prison, nothing will change.

People need to wake up and look at what is happening behind prison walls.

The government and the prison system are not only letting prisoners down.

They are letting victims down.

They are letting the public down.

They are letting you down.

What's behind having to release some prisoners early?

 The government has changed its plan to release thousands of offenders in England and Wales well before the end of their sentences in an attempt to make space in prisons.

People sentenced for rape, serious child sex and grooming offences will now not be eligible for early release from October.

But some prisoners who are not excluded could be freed after serving a third of their total custodial sentence rather than after 40% or 50% of their term.

This is not the first time a government - Conservative or Labour - has had to release prisoners early to make space in England and Wales' overcrowded prisons.

BBC Verify has looked at the reasons why ministers feel the need to resort to these measures.

More prisoners than prison space

The prison population in England and Wales on 3 August was 86,495, external, which was 97% of useable capacity.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has warned the prison population will overtake capacity as soon as this November.

In the long-term the MoJ has projected that the capacity of all prisons will rise to around 99,000 by 2032 as a result of more prisons being built by this government.

But it also projected that the prisoner population would rise to about 104,000 by 2032 if the Sentencing Act 2026 - which provides for earlier release - did not come into force.

That is why new Justice Secretary Alex Norris says there is a "prison capacity crisis" which means the government has to implement the latest early release scheme.

Norris has said that 5,000 prisoners are now due to be released from October - down from 6,000 due to the new exclusions.

The MoJ has projected that the Sentencing Act will mean the prisoner population remains below the capacity of the prison system, rising only to around 96,000 by 2032.

More people are being sent to prison for longer

The England and Wales prison population has risen significantly in recent decades with a significant uptick starting in the 1990s before reaching a record high in 2024.

The Institute for Government (IFG) think tank says this is partly the result of longer sentences.

In 2023, the average prison sentence at Crown Courts in England and Wales - which deal with more serious offences - was more than 25% longer than those handed down in 2012.

For some crimes, the increase was greater. Sentences for robbery in 2023 were 13 months longer on average than in 2012 - an increase of 36%.

Longer sentences mean more people being held in prison at any one time.

Former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke, who led an independent sentencing review for Sir Keir Starmer's government, argues this is the result of a "bidding war" by political parties since the 1990s over who can imprison people for longer.

Gauke also points out that the prison population has been rising at a time when overall crime in England and Wales has been falling, according to the official Crime Survey.

So despite the fall in crime more people are being sent to prison - and for longer.

Another reason for upward pressure on the prison population is that more people than before are being returned to prison for breaching the conditions of their release.

There were 51,419 licence recalls in England and Wales in the year ending March 2026, up from 40,259 in the previous year - a 28% increase.

Cassia Rowland from the IFG said most recalls are for breaches of licence conditions, such as missed appointments, rather than offenders committing further offences or posing a serious risk to the public.

"The probation service is overwhelmed, with high caseloads and lots of vacancies putting often inexperienced staff under huge pressure," she said.

Slow pace of prison building

Successive governments have pledged to increase the number of prison places - but delivery has often fallen short of those promises.

Between 2010 and 2024, when the Conservatives were in power, around 13,000 new prison places were created.

But around 12,500 places - notably those built during the Victorian era - were closed after falling into disrepair.

That means an estimated net total of only around 500 new prison places were added over 14 years.

In a 2024 report, the National Audit Office (NAO) cited the MOJ's "unrealistic timelines", and government bodies not working together to prioritise delivery, as reasons for the slow pace of prison building.

Although three new prisons have opened in the past four years - adding approximately 5,000 more places - further expansion to existing prisons has been delayed by a major supplier going into administration, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

Pia Sinha of the Prison Reform Trust told BBC Verify: "Successive governments have found it difficult to increase prison capacity because new prisons take years to plan and build, often facing planning hurdles and local opposition."

The Labour government has pledged to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031. The MoJ told BBC Verify that it had delivered about 3,200 places as of July.

However, it has not said how many prison cells have been taken out of use so we cannot say whether there has been a net gain or loss of spaces.

Analysts argue that without a major change in thinking about the appropriateness of prison as punishment, or a significant long-term increase in prison building, the system in England and Wales will remain close to capacity.

And that means governments will continue to be under pressure to implement early release schemes to avert a capacity crisis.

 

‘We fought for a tougher sentence’: victims’ families’ fury over early release scheme

Partner of woman killed by dangerous driver among those who say they are devastated at killers leaving jail early

When Calvin Buckley, whose pregnant partner was killed by a dangerous driver in 2023, secured a tougher sentence for the man who took her life, he felt some justice had been served. Now, under plans to release prisoners early to ease overcrowding, Adil Iqbal, who filmed himself speeding at 123mph before he crashed into 38-year-old Frankie Jules-Hough, may serve less time in prison than he would have under his original sentence.

“He could actually serve less time than he originally was going to before we appealed,” Buckley said. “We’ve fought for a tougher sentence. What is the point of having an actual sentence if the government can just reduce that?”

Victims and bereaved family members who fear perpetrators could be released early under government plans to free up prison space say they are deeply concerned at the prospect of dangerous offenders walking the streets.

Gemma Chappell, the great-aunt of Maya Chappell, who was shaken to death aged two by her mother’s boyfriend in 2022, said the early release scheme was further traumatising bereaved families.

Maya’s mother, Dana Carr, was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of child cruelty by neglect and allowing her child’s death, but Chappell has been told she is set to be released early under the scheme.

“I think it’s terrible. I think victims are not being heard. We should be allowed to grieve, we should be allowed to have our trauma,” she said.

Chappell said it was “ridiculous” that Carr had made no admission of guilt and applied to have her sentence reduced, which was denied, but was now set to be released early anyway due to overcrowding.

She said she welcomed Andy Burnham’s intervention to exempt rapists, serious child sexual abuse offenders and those convicted of grooming from the early release plans but said it didn’t go far enough.

“There’s still victims and families out there who remain deeply concerned about these dangerous offenders getting out early, and we’re one of them. Justice should always be about public safety and the victim’s voice first,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

A former prison officer, Chappell said she wanted the government to invest more money in prison buildings instead. “Letting serious offenders out on to the street is not the answer,” she said. “We need some clarity on what’s going to happen if these offenders do get out because this affects our lifetime, not just the next couple of months.”

Buckley said he was devastated to find driving offenders would not be exempted from the plans. “To kill somebody and to have your [prison] sentence reduced is just not right. Our justice has been taken away,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“I understand there is a crisis, I agree that it needs to be addressed, but not at the expense of victims. For me it is another example of road victims not being treated the same as other offences.”

Iqbal was originally sentenced to 12 years for killing Jules-Hough and her unborn child, Neeve. This was increased to 15 years by the court of appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Buckley said he was told Iqbal would serve a minimum of two-thirds of his original 12-year sentence – eight years – in prison. But under the new plans he could be eligible for release after half of his 15-year sentence, or seven and a half years.

The government has also been criticised for its decision not to exempt domestic abuse perpetrators from the early release scheme.

Alice Russell-Harris, the public affairs lead at Refuge, said the organisation was “deeply alarmed” and that the move would “put many domestic abuse survivors at risk”.

She said releasing domestic abusers early would “heighten survivors’ fears for their safety” and the charity was aware that perpetrators “frequently breach conditions to continue their campaign of abuse”.

The family of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed while responding to a report of a burglary in 2019, said they were devastated to learn two of the men jailed for his death would still be eligible for release.

Harper was killed after being dragged behind a car for a mile. Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter, could apply for early release after serving half of their sentences.

“Andrew deserves better than this and so do we,” his mother, Debbie Adlam said. “It feels like we’re letting Andrew down again. We’ve been through the justice system, we thought we’d done as best as we could. Apparently, the situation is, if nothing was done, then the prison system would fall completely. But we’re paying the price for it.”