The 8-month sentence still being served, 18 years later

Jailed in 2006, James Lawrence has 'seen murderers come in and murderers go home in his time', his mother Mandy says

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

A man trapped under an abolished indefinite jail term has made six attempts on his own life after serving 25 times longer than his original sentence, The Independent can reveal.

James Lawrence was handed a discredited imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail sentence with an eight-month minimum term in 2006 for threatening someone with a starting pistol.

Then aged 20, he told the court he was carrying the imitation gun for protection after nearly losing his life in a stabbing in the same part of Southampton the year before.

Now 38, he is believed to be one of Britain’s longest over-tariff IPP prisoners, having spent nearly 18 years in custody.

But The Independent has learnt that Labour is to turn its back on him – and almost 3,000 other IPP prisoners still languishing in cells – by rejecting a review of indefinite jail terms.

IPP sentences were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not for those already detained.

“In his time, he’s seen murderers come in and murderers go home,” James’s heartbroken mother Mandy Lawrence told The Independent. “It’s tormenting for his family, let alone him. I keep thinking, will I see him properly before I die? I was in my forties when he went in there and now I’m in my sixties. It’s heartwrenching, to be honest.”

At the time of his sentence, less time already served on remand, Mr Lawrence needed to spend another four months and 14 days in prison before completing his eight-month minimum tariff. He was also handed a 10-month concurrent sentence for assault in a separate drunken pub fight, which has long since expired.

A growing number of campaigners – including Lord Blunkett, who was home secretary at the time IPPs were introduced – have called for them to go, while families say it will be “unforgivable” if they refuse.