Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Fri, 03 Jul 2026 15:00:32 +0000: Freed Rochdale grooming gang leader was judged ‘high risk’ to children in 2023 - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: Shabir Ahmed, jailed in 2012 for rape, abuse and trafficking of girls, was deemed three years ago to present ‘high risk of sexual offending’
The leader of the Rochdale grooming gang was deemed to pose a “very high risk of serious harm” towards children just three years ago, the Guardian can reveal.
Shabir Ahmed, 73, was freed from HMP Leeds on Thursday despite three failed attempts to secure parole, the most recent of which was in October 2024. One document, relating to a previous review in 2023, shows Ahmed was seen to present a “high risk of sexual offending”.
Continue reading... - Thu, 02 Jul 2026 13:29:07 +0000: Whistleblower ‘terrified’ as Rochdale grooming gang leader released - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: Sara Rowbotham voices fears for women and girls because of ‘weak’ probation service
The release of the Rochdale grooming gang leader is “really scary” for women and girls because of failings in a “weak” probation service, a whistleblower who exposed the paedophile ring has said.
Amid demands for the government to find ways to deport Shabir Ahmed, Sara Rowbotham, a former council worker whose team gathered evidence that led to the imprisonment of Ahmed and eight other men in Rochdale, said she was “terrified” by the prospect of meeting him in the street.
Continue reading... - Tue, 23 Jun 2026 05:00:31 +0000: From the NHS to new homes, Starmer’s successes and setbacks – in charts - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
The PM said in May that ‘stories beat spreadsheets’, but what does the data tell us about his time in office?
Keir Starmer is to step down as prime minister after just two years in office.
Despite promising an end to Conservative sleaze and scandal, much political bandwidth towards the end of his time in No 10 was taken up by the fallout surrounding his appointment as US ambassador of Peter Mandelson, who had a close relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Continue reading... - Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:38:10 +0000: If we can’t keep rats out of Britain’s jails, we shouldn’t be putting children in them | Zoe Williams - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
The story of the therapy ferret used to kill rats at Wetherby young offenders institution raises question after question. Not least: is this any place for humans, whatever they have done?
‘Concerns over therapy ferrets used to kill rats at UK’s largest children’s prison” was how the Guardian’s own headline reported recent events at Wetherby young offenders institution in West Yorkshire. “Concerns” felt pretty mild, and I’d have preferred to hear it was a panic or at least a flat spin.
I hoped that it had happened out of sight, since it is no small thing to watch one animal kill another, but that hope was immediately dashed by the detail that not only did the ferret attack the rat in front of its young inmate handler, according to a complaint from the Prison Officers’ Association, but it didn’t even finish the job. The grim scene ended with a prison officer stomping on the injured rat, prompting the National Ferret Welfare Society to side with both rat and ferret, in the statement: “We cannot condone the stamping to death of any animal in any situation.”
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading... - Sun, 21 Jun 2026 15:34:56 +0000: Concerns over therapy ferrets used to kill rats at UK’s largest children’s prison - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Prison officers’ union calls for immediate end to practice at HMYOI Wetherby over fears for child and animal welfare
Pet ferrets kept as therapy animals at the UK’s largest children’s prison have been co-opted by managers to kill rats, resulting in a bloody incident and concerns over child and animal welfare.
The unorthodox method of vermin control was waved through last month at HMYOI Wetherby in West Yorkshire following a surge in rat numbers in prison offices and grounds.
Continue reading...