Prime Minister Andy Burnham has paused the early release scheme pending an 'urgent review'
A survivor of sexual abuse has hit out at the Government and the Tories for using Labour's early release scheme as a "political football".
Speaking to GB News, Vicki Crawford said the infighting between political parties is becoming "tiresome" and they should focus on blocking violent criminals from being released early.
Discussing the potential early release of her abuser, Ms Crawford told host Camilla Tominey that he was sentenced to seven years in 2024 for eight counts of indecent assault.
She explained: "There were concurrent sentences, so it looked like more when you factor in each count per sentence.
"However, seven years didn't feel like very long in prison because he would be released at the 50 per cent mark.
"But now, because of the changes at 33 per cent, he would be due for release when this scheme goes live."
Ms Crawford stressed that the impact her abuser has had on her life has been "catastrophic".
She told GB News: "It wasn't just the crimes themselves, it was the repercussions from those crimes. It's followed me throughout my life.
"It's affected my relationship with my family, I don't have a relationship with my family anymore because of it, it's made relationships difficult because of trust issues, and life hasn't been easy as a result of it.
"The seven-year sentence was probably the best vindication I could have got, so early release does feel like a kick in the teeth."
Criticising the approach to the scheme from the Government and other political parties, Ms Crawford said that it is becoming "tiresome" watching the parties go "back and forth" on who to blame.
She said: "Listening to politicians pass it backwards and forwards as to who's to blame is becoming tiresome.
"We don't really want to hear it. We'd rather they just got on with resolving the situation and stop blaming each other.
"And as for people that should maybe be considered for release over sexual offenders and violent criminals, maybe people on indeterminate sentences, because a lot of them are not violent.
"So maybe start considering them women and maybe look at using the military camps that they were going to use to house migrants to use as open prison space instead. That would be nice."
Discussing the circumstances of her own case ahead of the possible release of her abuser, Ms Crawford stressed that she has "no clue" as to the details of his release.
She said: "As it stands, this is what I personally know about my personal case. He is being reviewed for release, I do not have the full licence conditions, I do not know where he'd be relocated to, but I know he can't go back to the home that he lived in before.
"I have not been told whether he'd be tagged, I have zero information at this moment. Bear in mind, if they restart this, he'll be released on September 2."
Asked whether she feels any "comfort" in Prime Minister Andy Burnham's pause on the scheme to review who should be released, Ms Crawford agreed.
She told GB News: "The Telegraph published figures on sex offenders and how many of them were actually within the cohort that would be released, and it's about 1600 people.
"So how is that really going to make any kind of dent at all in the figures, the overcrowding? Exclude them. It's not going to make a difference them being in prison or not.
"Releasing this amount of people into the public community in a very short space of time with an already pressured probation service is not safe."
