22 Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times
News
Murders by former prisoners have
soared over the past three years as the
number of probation officers quitting
has risen, official figures show.
In the past decade, 685 ex-offenders
have been convicted for murder, an
analysis of Ministry of Justice figures by
the Labour Party has found.
Of those murders 251 were commit-
ted in the three years up to 2020, which
is the highest rate for a three-year
period since the government started
collecting the figures in 2003.
The data refers to former offenders
who commit a serious further offence,
replaced, with only 221 recruits nation-
ally, leaving 107 places unfilled.
The recruitment drive in the proba-
tion service has been focused on train-
ees, who lack experience. The latestSWNSEx-prisoner murders rise in probation ‘crisis’
which covers violent or sexual offences
committed by individuals who are the
subject of probation supervision.
Ministry data released in parliament
in response to a request from Labour
showed that 80 ex-offenders were con-
victed of murder in 2017-18, 97 in 2018-
19 and 74 in 2019-20. This average of 84
per year was up from an average of 62
for the previous seven years.
Separate analysis shows the number
of probation officers leaving the service
has risen by a quarter between 2019 and
2021 — from 221 to 328. London, south-
east and northwest England had the
highest number of leavers.
The figures show that they were notworkforce statistics for Her Majesty’s
Prison and Probation Service showed
that resignation has consistently out-
stripped retirement and other reasons
for leaving the service over the past five
years, making up 60 per cent of leavers.
The causes have been cited by some
as high workloads, stress and poor pay
given the nature of the work and rising
cost of living.
The figures coincide with the disas-
trous semi-privatisation of the proba-
tion service by Chris Grayling, the
former justice secretary.
Labour accused the government of
overseeing a “retention crisis” in the
probation service that had led to in-creasing numbers of ex-offenders com-
mitting serious crimes such as murder.
Ellie Reeves, shadow prisons minis-
ter, said: “This is further proof that this
soft-on-crime government is letting
criminals off and letting victims down.
“The British public are now counting
the cost of the Conservatives’ rushed
privatisation of the probation service,
in wasted taxpayer pounds and record
high murders by repeat offenders.”
The MoJ said that last year’s reversal
of the privatisation of probation ser-
vices combined with extra investment
to recruit staff would help reduce the
number of ex-offenders committing se-
rious further offences.Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
T
he moment a
gunman shot
a rival gang
member in
the street in
daylight was captured
by CCTV (Neil
Johnston writes).
The video shows a
man chasing Mickelle
Sharp, 33, in
Handsworth,
Birmingham, last
August after a dispute
over drugs.
Sharp then turns
and fires at the man,
who ducks down
behind a wheelie bin.
Sharp can be heard
shouting: “You think
you’re a bad boy,
yeah?”, then two more
shots are fired.
The injured man,
who was shot through
the arm twice, then
speeds off in a car.
Detectives fromDrug feud
shooting
caught on
camera
Going on to reoffend
2011 2016 2020100806040
Source: Labour request to justice secretarySerious Further
Offences recorded by
the Prison ServiceMickelle Sharp is seen with the weapon in the streetWest Midlands police
identified Sharp and
traced him to a flat in
Acocks Green, across
the city, where he
gave himself up to
armed police.
Bodycam footage
shows him being
arrested wearing only
his underpants and
with a towel draped
over his shoulders.
During a search of
the property, police
found more than 100
wraps of crack
cocaine, heroin and
cannabis, plus about
£16,000 in cash.
Officers also searcheda car used by Sharp
that contained a
revolver loaded with
five rounds — three of
which had been fired.
He admitted
possessing a firearm
with intent to
endanger life and
supplying drugs, and
was jailed for 21 years
by Birmingham
crown court last
week.
Detective Sergeant
Matt Dyer said: “The
victim was very lucky
to escape serious
injury, we could easily
have been looking at
a murder case.”