Mark Ranford

This morning, I received a phone call from my Victim Liaison Officer confirming that my abusers are still going to be released after serving just 50% of their sentences. Mohammed Usman is due to be released on 24 August, just next week, 7.5 years before the end of his 15-year sentence. Because my abusers were sentenced in 2019, they fall under the rules that applied before the changes introduced in 2020. They therefore aren't subject to the 67% threshold that applies to many offenders sentenced later. By mere months, they avoided those changes. I am grateful that they are no longer being considered for release after just 33%. But I cannot pretend that serving 50% of a 15–20 year sentence is justice. Over the next 12 months, five violent sexual offenders who were convicted in relation to my abuse will be released having served only half of their sentences. There is nothing I can do now to prevent those releases. And I have had to accept that, however difficult that is. But this isn't where the fight ends. We are already working on a campaign to make sure that when these offenders are released, any breach of their licence conditions is taken seriously and met with the full force of the law. Violent sexual offenders should never walk out of prison believing they have simply "got away with it." Victims should never be left feeling that a 15 year sentence, or more, actually means serving only half of it. I have spent years fighting for justice, not just for myself, but for thousands of victims whose lives were permanently changed by these men and other abusers like them. I am grateful that the rules have moved away from the possibility of release after 33% and that many are serving longer behind bars, but 50% still leaves a very bitter pill to swallow. This cannot continue. Justice has to be about victims and public safety, nothing else.