Mum of man jailed indefinitely for robbery explains the injustice of IPP sentences

1 December 2019, 09:12 | Updated: 1 December 2019, 12:33

The mother of a man in prison for 13 years, after attempting to steal a phone, is calling for changes to IPP sentences so that people like her son are freed - and others like Usman Khan remain jailed for life.

The caller, Shirley Debono, explained the circumstances around the jailing of her son Shaun Lloyd.

In 2005, he committed the crime of street robbery. When drunk, him and friend robbed two people of their phone and money.

Shaun returned the phone.

Debono said: "I don't condone what Sean has done, what Sean did was wrong and he deserves a prison sentence. Be it two years, five years, six years, he deserves a prison sentence for that crime.

But the crime was committed in 2005 November, and then in January 2006 Shaun was sentence to a two and half year tarrif, however they added the IPP sentence which has meant that Shaun is still in prison today."

Shaun has been in prison since 2006 for the crime.

Debono didn't know what an IPP sentence was - and she said that she realised it meant he was "sentence to a life sentence through the backdoor."

She is calling for re-sentencing because IPP sentences were meant for perpetrators of sexual violence, paedophiles and terrorists.

She blamed the Blair government for its poor implementation. She said the sentence was abolished in 2012 but they didn't abolish it retrospectively and, because of that, her son is stuck in the system.

She said: "It's a system that does not work."

Debono added: "Some politicians are fighting with me to get it changed."

She agrees that paedophiles and terrorists, like Usman Khan, should be sentenced to life.

Her son, however, didn't win an appeal whereas Usman Khan did.