Probation officers fail to properly identify the risk offenders present to the public and prevent violent and sexual offences like murder and rape, according to a new report.
HM Inspectorate of Probation looked at 86 serious further offence (SFO) cases by offenders who are under probation supervision or have very recently been under probation supervision at the time of the offence.
Forty-two percent of those assessed as posing “medium” risk and 44 percent as posing “high risk” went on to commit further offences.
Between April 2022 and April 2023, 30 reported cases involved a serious further offence of murder and 20 involved rape offences.
The report comes after the launch of two independent further offence reviews by the inspectorate in relation to Damien Bendall and Jordan McSweeney, both of whom were on probation when they committed murder and sexual assault.
Bendall was given a whole life sentence in December for murdering his pregnant girlfriend, Terri Harris, 35, her children John, 13, and Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, who was 11. He also raped Lacey Bennett.
McSweeney, 29, was locked up for at least 38 years in December after admitting to killing 35-year-old Zara Aleena as she walked along a street in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of June 26, 2022.
Lessons Learned
After looking at 86 SFO cases, 20 percent of which took place during a 12-month period, the inspectorate said it was “disappointing to see the quality of satisfactory reviews” drop.“It is clear, both from the SFO cases we have looked at and our own independent SFO reviews, that the Probation Service must strive to do a better job of consistently and accurately identifying the minority of people on probation at risk of causing serious harm. And learning the lessons from these very concerning incidents,” Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said.
“This will involve using all available information, to properly assess and monitor risk, with public protection at the forefront of planning and decision making. I hope that our recommendations, and those from our recent independent SFO reviews, will mean improvements that future lead to high-quality probation services that can safeguard potential victims and keep people safe,” Russell added.
The chief inspector cited reduced staffing levels within local services as one of the factors affecting the quality of work. Russell called on HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPSS) to ensure the services are adequately staffed in order to avoid the risk of reoffending.
Leading legal charity Centre for Women’s Justice said that Aleena was failed by a criminal justice system “in collapse” and suffering from “chronic underfunding.”
“The failure to identify the level of dangerousness this man [McSweeney] presented and the failure to adequately supervise him has resulted in the tragic loss of life of a young woman who had so much to offer society,” said the centre’s Director Harriet Wistrich, who called for an urgent transformation of the system.
In March, Russell said that upon the inspection of probation delivery units in London the previous year, four out of six areas reported probation officer vacancy rates over 60 percent. Rates in other parts of the country, including North Essex and West Kent, were just as bad, he added.
The inspectorate called for a revision of the HMPSS operating model, where SFO reviews are completed by staff at middle manager grades within their own probation regions. The report also warned against “optimism bias” among probation practitioners, who may as a result fail to recognise that the offenders’ compliance is superficial.
