'I've lost everything all over again': Mum-of-three recalled to jail for missing one probation meeting 20 years ago
13 November 2024, 09:29 | Updated: 13 November 2024, 09:39
A mother-of-three was forced to spend three months behind bars after being recalled to jail for a probation meeting she missed almost 20 years ago.
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Rebecca Lansari, 44, says her life has been ruined after being recalled to jail for missing a probation meeting in 2005 following an 18-month sentence for cheque fraud.
The mum moved to Tunisia in 2013 for a fresh start after meeting her husband Lansari Hassib.
The couple share three children, Luca, 18, Naima, 11, and Aissa, nine, who all live in Tunisia while she travels to the UK for work.
However, in March, Ms Lansari was tagged as a “most wanted” person by Gatwick Airport security and jailed upon her arrival in the UK.
Following her arrest, she lost her job and will not be allowed to return to Tunisia before January.
She has now started a GoFundMe to help raise legal funds.
Writing in the post, she said:”'My life was almost perfect, I was working and paying tax, contributing towards society and now I have absolutely nothing.
“My children are with my husband, their father, in Tunisia but they all financially rely on me too, causing me more worry and stress being unable to not only provide for them but also be with them.”
Ms Lansari has admitted she was in the wrong to miss the probation meeting but alleges she tried to “hand herself in” after skipping the mandatory visit.
She went on to say: “I'm now 20 years later paying for the incompetence of public authorities that should have done their job properly then.
“I've not offended in the 20 years and I've completely changed my life around, all of this has set me back 20 years and made me lose everything in my life all over again.
“I am going to push things as far as I possibly can in the hope that no one ever has to endure the pain and suffering I have been through as well as my children and husband.”
The mum-of-three had remained unnamed until a report by the Independent Monitoring Board suggested putting her in jail was a poor use of the UK’s limited prison spaces.
The report said: “We monitored the case of a woman who was transferred to Downview on recall for just 12 weeks.
“The recall was for a breach of a licence condition (failure to attend her probation appointment), which had taken place 20 years prior to her recall to Downview. “The woman had not committed any further offences in that time and was now a mother, with school-age children and secure employment.
“She lost her job in the community while in Downview and was not allocated any work or other activities during her time in the prison.
“We query whether this is a sensible use of a prison place in the middle of acute population pressure, and also of His Majesty's Prison Service resources generally.”
