Jess Phillips labels early release of domestic abusers 'worrying' as plans for experts in 999 control rooms revealed
20 September 2024, 09:51 | Updated: 20 September 2024, 10:22
Watch Again: Nick Ferrari speaks to Jess Phillips | 20/09/24
Jess Phillips has labelled the early release of domestic abusers "very worrying" as the government unveiled plans to embed domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms.
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Speaking exclusively with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls revealed plans to trial the use of domestic abuse specialists.
The trial come in a bid to speed-up responses and reduce missed opportunities to identify victims at an early stage - a move that could ultimately reduce potential fatalities at the hands of abusers.
Thee scheme, due to be piloted in select police forces from early next year, forms part of the government's pledge to halve violence against women and girls in under a decade.
The new scheme will see the specialists embedded in control rooms across England and Wales and forms part of "Raneem's Law", named after Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother, Khaola Saleem.
The pair were murdered by Ms Oudeh's estranged husband in 2018, despite 13 separate calls to police.
It comes as the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardle revealed she was "pleased" that domestic abusers are being recalled to prison following early release, despite the concept sounding "counter-intuitive".
“I know this is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I am glad they have been recalled swiftly,” remarked Phillips of the early release of such abusers.
“I have sat on domestic homicide reviews, I have sat on inquiries over the years when I’ve worked on this where people were meant to be recalled back to prison, who had abused somebody, and who went on to murder because they weren’t swiftly recalled”
"So, whilst nobody would want these people to be released early from prison, what I am pleased about is that they were immediately recalled."
Speaking on the scheme, Phillips said the service would use video calling to “end the cycle of [victims] calling another 13 times before they are potentially murdered."
She added the service would "free up response officers to go to those much more critical cases."
Speaking with Nick, Ms Phillips labelled the early release of domestic abusers "very worrying", after the government was forced to release thousands of inmates who had served just 40% of their sentence in a bid to tackle prison overcrowding.
It comes as LBC exlusively revealed actor Jason Hoganson was released from prison early under the prisoner release scheme just weeks after being convicted of attacking his ex-girlfriend in the street.
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Hoganson, 53, from Wallsend, was sentenced to 18 months in August for attacking his former partner.
However, he was returned back behind bars just 48 hours after release after being arrested on suspicion of two counts of breaching a restraining order and one count of assault.
"In the face of this terrible decision that has had to be made, we have tried to, where best, put in place all the safeguards and I have worked on it night and day really since I’ve been in office."
It comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke on the subject of the new laws
"Failure to understand the seriousness of domestic abuse costs lives and far too many have already been lost," Ms Cooper said.
Nick also quizzed the MP on the subject of electronic tags, following the news the government had 'run out' of the ankle devices at a time when record numbers of prisoners were being released freed.
"I am concerned," Phillips said, noting the release of offenders without tags left her "pretty disappointed".
“It’s not the government who has made the backlog in tags, it’s a contract signed with Serco in May," she pointed out.
Lord Timpson is believed to have met with Serco yesterday to discuss the delays to fitting electronic tags.
