Stalker Who Breached His Tagging Order 33 Times is Released

Dangerous stalkers and domestic abusers are being released on bail despite repeatedly breaching electronic tagging orders, with some offenders ignoring restrictions more than 30 times, inspectors have warned.

A joint report by the probation and police inspectorates highlighted serious failings in the monitoring of offenders, including those ordered to stay away from their victims.

In one case, a man accused of seriously stalking his former partner breached his electronic tagging order 33 times. Despite repeated police requests for him to be remanded in custody, courts granted him bail on three occasions.

It was only after the victim reported further stalking and probation officials recorded another tag breach that police issued a wanted alert through the Police National Computer. He was arrested nine days later, sentenced to 36 weeks in prison and given a restraining order.

The inspectors identified multiple cases in which failures in electronic monitoring exposed victims and the public to potential danger. Around 28,000 offenders and suspects are currently monitored in the community using electronic tags.

The findings come amid growing concerns over the use of bail and electronic monitoring for serious offenders. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley recently disclosed that a sex offender, jailed for possessing thousands of images of children and using artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit images, had repeatedly been released on bail to return to a home overlooking a playground he had targeted.

Ministers have pledged to make electronic tagging a central part of efforts to protect the public when 4,500 offenders, including stalkers, domestic abusers and violent criminals, are released early from prison. A major expansion of tagging has been promised, with a presumption that every prisoner released early will be fitted with an electronic monitoring device.

However, inspectors found significant delays and administrative failures in the existing system.

Almost one in 10 offenders who were supposed to be tagged to protect victims and the public were allowed to remain in the community for up to five months before their devices were fitted. One in five offenders waited more than two weeks for a GPS or radio frequency tag, which can be used to enforce curfews. Among the 180 cases examined, 45 per cent of tags were not fitted promptly.

The delays were attributed to offenders failing to make themselves available for installation, as well as mistakes and communication failures among officials responsible for fitting the devices.

In one case, a man released from prison after an affray conviction went 41 days without a tag because of a breakdown in communication between the installation team and probation services. When the device was eventually fitted, officials discovered he had entered an exclusion zone.

In another case, a domestic abuser convicted of racially aggravated violence was never fitted with a GPS tag, leaving him free to contact his victim.

Inspectors also raised concerns that victims were not routinely informed when offenders breached their tagging conditions, as police were not required to notify them.

They called for victims to be informed of breaches, particularly in domestic abuse cases, where violations could signal an increased threat to their safety.

Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, warned that ministers risked overstating the protection electronic tagging could provide to victims following the early release of prisoners.

He said: "There is a real danger that electronic monitoring creates a false sense of assurance if the technology is not matched by effective professional practice. Expanding tagging programmes without addressing their weaknesses risks overpromising and underdelivering on public protection."

Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, chair of domestic abuse charity Refuge, said the report exposed serious shortcomings in the use of electronic monitoring to protect victims of stalking and domestic abuse.

She called for an urgent, system-wide review, warning that while tagging could be a valuable protective measure, its effectiveness could not be assumed.

Barkworth-Nanton said it would be extremely dangerous to assume that electronic monitoring was making victims safer without addressing the failures identified.

She added that any of the cases highlighted in the report could have had catastrophic consequences.

Broadgate Legal