New Justice Secretary Alex Norris has been urged to reconsider the early release scheme after being appointed by Andy Burnham on Monday.<\/p>\n
Asked about reports that the prime minister could be working on exempting rapists and child groomers from the scheme, his spokesman said: “The government’s fully focused on keeping the public safe.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got no option but to take decisive action to fix the crisis in our prisons. I’m not going to get into speculation over possible policy changes.<\/p>\n
“Of course, the prime minister will take decisions on all manner of policy areas in the future, including how we get justice for victims.”<\/p>\n
Aileen O’Connor, chair of Thames Valley Police Federation, said: “The killers of PC Andrew Harper should be kept where they belong… behind bars.<\/p>\n
“Police across Thames Valley, and indeed the country, will be disgusted at the prospect of these smirking lowlifes being free to roam the streets.<\/p>\n
“These killers have never shown any remorse for their horrific and deadly actions that night.<\/p>\n
“Andrew’s wife Lissie and his whole family are serving a life sentence. The least we can expect is that his killers serve their whole sentence, however poor it already is.”<\/p>\n
She added that the organisation would be communicating with the police minister, the home secretary and the prime minister. <\/p>\n
“We will not stop. Andrew deserves nothing less,” O’Connor said.<\/p>\n
“What message does this send about the worth of a life of a police officer? The government and the parole board must reconsider any plans to release Andrew’s killers early. And they must do it now. No ifs. No buts.”<\/p>\n
Cabinet minister Heidi Alexander said the early release scheme was necessary because the justice system had been on the brink of collapse when Labour came to power.<\/p>\n
She told BBC Breakfast: “If we ran out of prison spaces, courts couldn’t sentence and the police wouldn’t have been able to arrest.<\/p>\n
“No responsible government would have allowed us to get into that situation.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, new Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has insisted there was “no ill intent” behind apparent comments about the early release scheme, which were caught on camera.<\/p>\n