Inmate handed early release gives 'big up' to Starmer

An inmate gave a big up” to Sir Keir Starmer and posed with a Bentley after being released from prison early as part of the government’s policy to free up prison space.

- TARA COBHAM ,KATE DEVLIN

Daniel Dowling-Brooks, 29, was celebrating with his friends, mother and sister yesterday after they picked him up in a convoy of a white Bentley and black Mercedes G-Class outside of HM Prison Swaleside.

The 29-year-old told reporters he had been in prison on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, for seven years for kidnap and grievous bodily harm of someone who owed money to his friend – however, he was leaving seven weeks earlier than planned. The father-of-two said the first thing he would do is “go to McDonald’s, go to my hostel and follow all the rules”.

On being released, he said: ‘I kidnapped someone who owed my friend money. I tied him up and had him at gunpoint. I beat him up. It was bad but not as bad as they made out. I’m so sorry for it though. I’m changed. Big up Keir Starmer, I am delighted to be released early.”

Asked how he felt about being out of prison, he added: “I feel good man. I feel happy.” He added that he would now spend more time with his two children and his friends. He also expressed regret over his crime and described feeling bad.

Asked yesterday if the prime minister was happy that he was being “bigged up” by criminals, Downing Street said: “No.” The prime minister’s official spokesperson said that Sir Keir “shares the public anger” over the situation, which he said ministers had inherited from the last Tory government, but he added that the prison crisis was so extreme that “there was no choice not to act”.