Shaun Lloyd, 38, from Cardiff, was sentenced to two years and nine months in 2006 for a mobile phone theft, but has served more than three times that term because he was given an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence. He was recalled to HMP Cardiff weeks ago after an anonymous phone call, despite committing no further offence. His mother, Shirley Debono, is now pleading with Andy Burnham to release IPP prisoners instead of killers under the early release scheme.
Mother's desperate plea
Shirley, 66, told Metro: 'They have stolen Shaun's life away from him. The country is in uproar over the prisoners that have been released early. Forget about them, start by releasing these IPP prisoners instead.'
Shaun was 18 when he pushed someone to the floor and took their mobile in November 2005. When chased, he stopped and returned the phone. The victim called the police, and he was sentenced for robbery in 2006. His co-defendant served less than a year, but Shaun first left prison in 2014. He has been recalled five times since then, initially because of a drug addiction he developed in jail, serving months and sometimes years behind bars.
Recalled after anonymous call
Shaun had only been out of prison for four and a half months when he was recalled again after an anonymous phone call to police, which the family say was malicious. Shirley said: 'He had turned his life around. He was drug free, he had gotten into the gym and was getting fit. He had applied for an apprenticeship with the railways and got it. And then an anonymous phone call comes in. They stole his life away from him just as he was rebuilding it.'
Shirley said she was shocked when officers came around to her house to check on her after a caller alleged Shaun had strangled her, which she denies happened. Despite not being arrested, questioned or charged over the allegation, Shaun was recalled to prison indefinitely for failing to immediately report the police visit to his probation officer. 'You haven't even got a chance to put it right. You have to go back to prison as if you are a guilty person,' Shirley added.
UN condemns IPP sentences
The United Nations ruled last week that it was 'inhumane' and a form of psychological torture that the government was still keeping IPP prisoners in jail. The Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said it constituted 'inhumane treatment' due to the 'mental anguish of being subjected to continuous uncertainty of a release date'. The committee examined five men – including Shaun – who have served a combined 87 years behind bars. The UN argued that all five are entitled to compensation and other reparations as a result of their unjust confinement.
There are more than 2,000 people still serving open-ended IPP punishments, many for relatively minor crimes such as phone theft. As many as 96 people have taken their own lives in custody after losing hope of release.
Call for inclusion in early release scheme
Shirley, who founded the IPP Committee In Action, told Metro there are hundreds of IPP prisoners in a similar position to her son. She said: 'Andy Burnham has to go back and include IPP prisoners in the early release scheme. They have been in prison for 15 to 20 years and have committed far less heinous crimes than the people he is releasing on this scheme. The country is in uproar over the prisoners that have been released. I'm pleading with the government to release all those that were found not guilty in court, face no further action or have had charges dropped. This runs into hundreds and hundreds of IPP prisoners.'
Shirley also believes that some IPP prisoners who are mentally ill should be moved out of prison and into a hospital setting. She added that the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice risk having 'blood on their hands' if they don't act.
Government response
On Monday, the Prime Minister asked for a review of IPP sentences after announcing he would continue with the early release scheme for prisoners. Rapists, child sexual abusers and groomers will be excluded from the plans, but domestic abusers and killers could still walk free early. Among them are the two men who were jailed for killing PC Andrew Harper in 2020, a decision his wife called a 'punch in the gut'.
A Government spokesperson said: 'It is right that these sentences were abolished, and as the IPP annual report shows, support has significantly improved for these offenders, with greater access to rehabilitation and mental health support. We are now looking at what more can be done.'
Shirley believes not only Shaun, but his two children, aged eight and 10, should receive compensation for the years he has spent locked up. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is due to decide in August whether to send Shaun's case to the Court of Appeal.
