The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has called for new legislation to try to stop the early release of serious criminals from prison. Speaking in central London, she was joined by victims of grooming gangs, many of whom had handed in a letter to Number 10 earlier the same morning.
Badenoch framed the issue as going far beyond minor offending. According to the reporting, she stressed that the debate was not about shoplifters or people driving dangerously, but about individuals who, in her words, should be in prison for a very long time. She argued that, to secure justice for victims, such offenders should remain behind bars.
Several of the victims present spoke about their fears. One described the uncertainty around the process, saying they had not been given clear times, dates or details about exclusion zones, and questioned whether victims were safe. She said the fight through the justice system was constant and painful, and could be easily diminished.
A survivor named Sarah said she had received a letter about four weeks ago informing her of the situation. She said that when she read it she felt sick, explaining that the case involved child abuse and rape, and that a victim liaison officer had told her it affected two of her seven perpetrators in the case.
According to Sarah, one of those perpetrators, referred to as Maury, was sentenced to 19 years in September 2025, while another, Hussein, was sentenced to 20 years only a few months ago. The prospect that they could be released within the next five or six years, she said, was astonishing after years fighting for justice.
The campaigners warned about the potential scale of the issue. They said around 9,000 survivors and victims across the country had received such letters, and argued that if each had multiple perpetrators, large numbers of dangerous offenders could be back on the streets within a few years, questioning how they could be monitored.
The intervention comes after Prime Minister Andy Burnham paused the early release scheme, one of the first steps he took on entering office, with a planned release in September placed on hold while a review is carried out. The victims said they welcomed the pause but argued that a pause alone was not enough, calling instead for dangerous offenders to be exempted.