A government should never release violent criminals. I've seen what happens when they do

Before the House of Lords went into recess for the summer, we had an opportunity to ask the minister about the Government’s early release scheme benefiting prisoners such as the killers of PC Andrew Harper.

Many of us had remained in the Chamber to express our concern that such a course of action would take place.

From my perspective as the daughter of a police officer who was the subject of an attempted murder attempt by the IRA and the wife of a now-retired police officer, I urged the Government to learn the lessons of the early release scheme which was inserted into the Belfast Agreement at the last minute by Sinn Fein.

The Government has now indicated that whilst it will not release those who have been convicted of rape or serious sexual offences, and rightly so, they will go ahead to release those guilty of killing of PC Harper.

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Understandably, Andrew Harper’s widow called the decision to proceed with the release of his killers as an “affront to justice” - and I completely agree.

The reason given by the Prime Minister as to why he was proceeding was that “he had pushed the very limits of what is possible” but could not exempt more prisoners without the prison system falling apart.

I find all this totally bizarre.

We are allowing some of the most violent killers out of prison after serving half of their prison sentence to make space for prisoners who may not be any where near as violent of threatening to society.

Surely the answer is in the short term to create more prison spaces in short order – we were able to create Nightingale hospitals when Covid struck – and in the longer term we need to assess why we have more criminals and prisoners than the system can cope with.

The answer to a lack of prison spaces is not to allow violent offenders to walk free.

The reason I referenced the prisoner release scheme in NI which came about as a result of the Belfast Agreement is because that scheme has had a devastating effect on victims and their families, who still see the early release of IRA murderers as a betrayal of the death of their loved ones.

It has also had a long term impact on faith in the justice system.

I asked the Government to not just think of prison spaces in terms of number, but to think of the impact the early release of police killers would have - not just on the wider justice system, but the recruitment of police officers in the future.

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister at the time of the Belfast Agreement, said in words reminiscent of the current Prime Minister that the early release of prisoners was “horrible but necessary”.

That is such a poor justification for a policy which still today is causing problems in Northern Ireland and across the UK, as of course, many young soldiers from Great Britain were murdered by IRA terrorists who were then released from prison.

Meanwhile, the Government still pursues veterans who served in Northern Ireland.

Andrew Harper’s widow is bereft as his killers will be free next month.

Like so many IRA terrorists, Andrew Harper’s killers showed no remorse, yet they will walk free from prison as she and the rest of Andrew’s family live with the void which his killing has left.

Police officers go out every day to protect the rest of society from thugs like those who killed Andrew Harper.

It is beyond appalling that the Government is prepared to allow these killers to be freed.

Promises that victims will have access to better support and the reassurance that offenders will face tighter supervision will ring hollow, especially to those of us who have seen it all before.

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee DBE is the former First Minister of Northern Ireland and sits as a non-affiliated peer in the House of Lords.

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