'My son said only way he'd get to leave is in a body bag'

Mother says IPP robbed son of adult life before he died at 34

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

When he was refused parole last year, Josh Mcrae warned his mother the only way he would be released from his indefinite jail term was in a body bag. It was the latest in a string of setbacks for the 34-year-old prisoner, who had already spent 16 years behind bars for a four-year minimum sentence he was handed for a crime when he was 17.

In September, the once smiley and ambitious footballer was found unresponsive in his cell at HMP Long Lartin aged 34. The cause of his death is still unknown. Now his heartbroken mother has called for the government to finally bring an end to the injustice of the “torturous, cruel and inhumane” imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence he was handed.

“When he didn’t get parole last time he said the only way I am going to leave here is in a body bag – and that’s what happened,” Theresa Mcrae told The Independent. “Josh’s struggle and strength and consequent death should not be in vain. He now has freedom, but heartbreakingly it was not the freedom we all so dearly wanted.”

The controversial jail terms, which saw offenders handed a minimum tariff but no maximum, were scrapped in 2012 over human rights concerns but not for people already detained – leaving thousands like Josh languishing with no release date.