Dad goes on run to escape 'unfair' indefinite recall to prison for adolescent crime

A terrified father has gone on the run after learning he is to be hauled back to prison indefinitely over claims he has restarted a relationship with the mother of his children.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Despite already serving his minimum term more than three times over, Matthew Booth, 33, is wanted by police on recall to prison for a crime he committed when he was just 15.

Under the terms of the indefinite Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence he was handed, Matthew can be recalled without notice for breaches of strict licence conditions. So far, he has been hauled back to prison three times.

But now probation has said he must return to prison yet again because they have been told he has restarted a relationship without notifying them. However, both Matthew and the woman in question have told The Independent that claims they are back in a serious relationship are false.

The pair, supported by campaign group IPP Committee in Action, are calling on the justice secretary Shabana Mahmood to use new powers to intervene and cancel his recall.

Matthew, now a fugitive living in a tent, said: “What am I going back for? What crime have I committed? If I had committed a crime I would understand. It’s not happening, I would rather kill myself.”

Abigail Vernon, with whom he shares two young daughters, added: “He’s still being punished for something he did when he was 15 years old. Every time he gets out and starts building his life back up again it gets taken away.”

IPP jail terms – under which offenders were handed a minimum jail term but no maximum – were ditched over human rights concerns in 2012, seven years after they were introduced by New Labour in a bid to be tough on crime.

Despite being widely condemned, including by the UN, its abolition did not apply retrospectively, leaving thousands trapped with no release date until the Parole Board deems them safe to be let out.