Responding to Burnham’s announcement, the shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, said: “Labour whipped their MPs to vote to let rapists, paedophiles and grooming gang perpetrators out of prison early. Now they admit the Conservative campaign to stop this was right – this is a victory for victims.
“But their U-turn doesn’t go far enough. Some child sex offenders and killers, like those responsible for the death of PC Harper, will still be released early. And the trauma of victims being told their abusers may be released can’t be undone.
Rapists,
child abusers and groomers will not leave prison early, says PM
Andy
Burnham will also delay release of thousands of prisoners across England and
Wales a month, until October
Rajeev
Syal and Alexandra Topping
Mon 3 Aug
2026 22.30 BST
Rapists,
child sexual abusers and groomers will be excluded from early release plans to
ease critical prison overcrowding in a major intervention by Andy Burnham.
The prime
minister said on Tuesday that he would delay the planned early release of
thousands of prisoners across England and Wales by a month until October.
But he
will still allow domestic abusers and killers to go free, including two men
jailed for their role in the death of PC Andrew Harper.
The
decision will put the lives of women and girls “at risk” and has “let down”
serving police officers, a watchdog and a pressure group have warned.
It
follows the suspension of Keir Starmer’s plans to release up to 6,000 offenders
from prison early in September amid official predictions that prisons will be
full in November.
Burnham
suspended the scheme in his second week as PM after coming under intense
pressure from MPs, victims, campaigners and frontline prison officers to halt
the early release of serious sexual and violent offenders.
In a
statement, Burnham said: “I asked for an urgent review of the prisoner release
scheme. I fully understand the anger, anxiety and distress that’s been caused.
I’ve heard that loud and clear. That’s why we’re making significant changes:
offenders who have been sentenced for rape, serious child sex offences and
other grooming offences will be excluded from the changes.”
The
Ministry of Justice has declined to release the numbers of prisoners who will
no longer be freed as a result of Burnham’s intervention.
It has
also declined to say when its own internal modelling predicts that prisons will
be full again, and if there are already plans for further early release
schemes.
The
domestic abuse commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said the decision to exclude
those who have abused their partners was “wrong” and “puts victims’ lives at
risk”.
“As I
told the lord chancellor just last week, the danger perpetrators pose to their
victim should not be underestimated. These are individuals who are fixated on
their victim and will stop at nothing to control and cause harm.
“Measures
that will keep domestic abuse victims safe still appear to be an afterthought.”
Andrea
Simon, the London victim’s commissioner, said the failure was concerning, given
a shortage of probation officers with experience of handling complex offenders.
“This
will alarm many survivors of abuse that are desperately concerned about their
safety, particularly when there are real challenges in delivering tougher
community supervision,” she said.
An early
release scheme in 2024 included specific protections for victims of domestic
abuse.
Victims’
groups had objected to the proposal for 6,000 people to be freed early from
September under the new Sentencing Act. Debbie Adlam, the mother of the police
officer Andrew Harper, said last month that the proposed inclusion of two of
her son’s killers – Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers – was “another letdown” for
their family.
Prisoners
serving longer sentences of four years or more would be eligible for release at
the halfway point of their term, rather than at two-thirds as had previously
been the case.
The
changes were due to be phased in, beginning with prisoners serving sentences of
less than 575 days, going up to prisoners jailed for 12 years or more being
eligible for early release in June next year.
The
government has said that, after listening to victims’ concerns, rapists and
child sexual offenders will not be eligible for the sentencing changes.
Prisoners
serving time for some sexual or violent offences where the automatic release
stage is set at two-thirds will become eligible for release at the halfway
point, provided they have not committed serious breaches of prison rules.
This
applies to Bowers and Cole, two of Harper’s killers, who were jailed for 13
years in 2020 for manslaughter. Henry Long, the main perpetrator, will not be
subject to early release.
Tiff
Lynch, national chair of the Police Federation, said: “Allowing those who take
an officer’s life to be released earlier to save the prison system from
collapsing gravely risks undermining not only public safety but public
confidence, causing real distress to bereaved families and sending entirely the
wrong message about the value we place on those who protect us. The government
must urgently rethink this decision.”
The chief
constable of Thames Valley police, Jason Hogg, said: “I am beyond disappointed
the government is continuing to allow PC Andrew Harper’s killers to be released
early from prison despite the overwhelming recent public outcry.
“It is
simple: if Andrew’s killers were convicted today, they would receive life
sentences due to the law that was created in his name. They would not be
eligible for early release.
“We will
continue to lobby the government to make the right decision.”
The
Ministry of Justice also announced a £10m package for victim support and said
the new justice secretary, Alex Norris, would look at reviewing “outdated”
Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences.
Other
community measures will be put in place to protect victims of crime including
tougher periods of supervision and restriction zones for offenders, Burnham
said.
“I wanted
to go even further as I know there will still be concerns about other offenders
having their sentence shortened. But it’s not possible without the prison
system reaching capacity and collapsing, which would put public safety at much
greater risk,” Burnham said.
The
announcement follows days of wrangling inside the Ministry of Justice and No 10
over how to calm public anger while still ensuring that the criminal justice
system does not seize up.
Prisons
have become a major point of political contention, with Labour blaming the
Conservatives for creating the overcrowding crisis by increasing sentences
while failing to build enough jails.
Responding
to Burnham’s announcement, the shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, said:
“Labour whipped their MPs to vote to let rapists, paedophiles and grooming gang
perpetrators out of prison early. Now they admit the Conservative campaign to
stop this was right – this is a victory for victims.
“But
their U-turn doesn’t go far enough. Some child sex offenders and killers, like
those responsible for the death of PC Harper, will still be released early. And
the trauma of victims being told their abusers may be released can’t be undone.
“One of
Andy Burnham’s first acts as prime minister will be to let thousands of
criminals – including killers and paedophiles – out early.”
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