New hope for IPP prisoners as five men held on indefinite jail terms referred to appeal courts
New hope for prisoners held on ‘torturous’ indefinite jail terms
- The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred five cases involving abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) sentences to appeal courts for reconsideration.
- These open-ended sentences, scrapped in 2012, have been criticised for keeping thousands in jail for significantly longer than their original tariffs, including many who were children at the time of their offence.
- The CCRC launched a major review after recent Court of Appeal rulings, such as those for Leighton Williams and Darren Hilling, set precedents for overturning these disproportionate sentences.
- Leighton Williams, for example, served nearly 16 years for a 30-month tariff before his IPP sentence was quashed and he was released in May 2024.
- The CCRC is currently reviewing approximately 110 IPP/DPP cases and is actively encouraging others who have exhausted their appeal rights to come forward.