Could these thugs be amongst these freed beneath Labour’s launch plan
The Government is mass releasing 1,700 inmates from jails across England and Wales this morning.
It is just the beginning as more than 5,000 prisoners, including violent offenders, will be freed over the next six weeks under plans drawn up by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The plans involve criminals who have served 40 per cent of their sentence rather than at the current 50 per cent point.
It is likely to include burglars, thieves and fraudsters along with drug traffickers and dealers, even if they are serving ten or 15 years.
Only violent criminals sent down for more than four years will be ineligible.
Now The Daily Mail brought together a list of thugs that could soon taste freedom.
The Government is mass releasing 1,700 inmates from jails across England and Wales this morning (stock image)
Connar Shaw, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, could be freed after being jailed for 32 months in May last year for two counts of actual bodily harm on his ex-partner.
Derby Crown Court heard he had broken her jaw, strangled her and threatened to throw acid in her face.
In a statement read in court, the survivor said: ‘I am scared that when he is released there will be repercussions and that he will want to get his revenge on me for being in prison. Connar is a psycho and he frightens me – I’m afraid that one day he will end up killing me.’
Connar Shaw
Kenneth Brown, 57, of St Leonards, East Sussex, was jailed for four years in February last year for robbing a betting shop, where he told a cashier: ‘Give me the money or I’ll blow your head off.’
Brown wrapped a jacket around his hand and forearm, giving the appearance he had a firearm. He admitted one count of robbery at Lewes Crown Court.
Drug mule Benjamin Nwaogwugwu, 44, of Longsight, Manchester, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling after checks found he had ingested 79 packages of cocaine.
He was jailed for four years and two months at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester in September 2022.
Benjamin Nwaogwugwu
Shane Riley, 44, of Swansea, may be eligible for release after serving barely nine months of a 23-month sentence.
He admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault, making threats to kill and criminal damage at Peterborough Crown Court last November after headbutting, punching and kicking his former partner after she broke up with him.
Shane Riley
Serial burglar Michael Alcorn, 60, of Accrington, Lancashire, preyed on the elderly and vulnerable during the first Covid lockdown.
After being jailed for ten years at Preston Crown Court in June 2020, he sneered: ‘Is that it? Should have made it 15.’
Michael Alcorn
Patrick Scotland, 28, of west London, was jailed for ten years at London’s Isleworth Crown Court in June 2020 after he admitted possession of Class A and B drugs with intent to supply.
The Metropolitan Police said MDMA and crystal meth found in his flat – with an estimated street value of £2.2million – were the largest-known such seizures from a residential address in the UK to date.
Patrick Scotland
Jason Holland, 48, from Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, was jailed for 12 years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Kingston Crown Court in January 2020.
He was part of a gang which supplied drugs worth £70 million around the M25, the court heard.
Jason Holland
Meanwhile, there are fears that hundreds of offenders will end up homeless leading them back into a life of crime.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is providing accommodation for 12 weeks only, meaning some could end up on the streets and committing crime.
Prison leaders said there was even a risk that some of those freed today will become homeless straight away.
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, told the Mail: ‘History tells us that there will be people who slip through the net.
Sex offenders, serious violent criminals and terrorists are excluded – but the scheme will apply to lower-level violent offenders including domestic abusers.
