𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The heartbroken father of murdered Elle Edwards revealed Andy Burnham snubbed his attempts to keep the gangster who helped her killer behind bars. Tim Edwards said Thomas Waring has “never showed any remorse for his actions”. And the criminal – who helped shooter Connor Chapman torch the getaway vehicle – has “tried to use the justice system to get his own freedom as early as possible”.

Under Labour’s early release scheme, the convict is set to be released next month. Mr Edwards said there is “nothing to stop” Waring digging out the sub-machine gun used to kill beautician Elle, 26, on Christmas Eve in 2022 and using it on “someone else”. But the heartbroken dad said he wrote to the Prime Minister – and never received a reply.

Tim Edwards told Sky News that Waring “never showed any remorse for his actions, all he’s shown is absolute contempt for the justice system.

“And he’s tried to use the justice system to get his own freedom as early as possible.

“The gun has never been found. That gun is still out there. He’s one of two people that knows where that gun is.

“And there’s nothing to stop him in October coming out, going straight to that gun and using that gun on someone else, or using it to threaten our family or have a grievance against our family.

“Who knows what he’s going to do? But he’s getting released early as a reward for that. I find that absolutely crazy.”

Ms Edwards was an innocent bystander when Connor Chapman opened fire with a sub-machine gun as he targeted two men in a gang feud.

Ms Edwards was an innocent bystander when Connor Chapman opened fire with a sub-machine gun as he targeted two men in the culmination of a gang feud.

And Mr Edwards revealed he has written to the Prime Minister pleading for help.

But he hasn’t heard back.

The distraught father said: “I got in touch with the previous prime minister, Keir Starmer, to get a response.

“And you sort of get pushed around.

“I think they were hoping we’d go away as most people might give up because it’s a long-winded process with the government.

“But we did get a meeting down at the Ministry of Justice, but it made no difference, really.

“And then I’ve wrote to Andy Burnham recently, but I’ve had no response at all from Downing Street – I don’t even know if he’s seen the email that I sent. I did send one to the local MP, Angela Eagle. she’s been a great supporter, to be fair. but I’ve never heard from them in this case.”

Justice Secretary Alex Norris admitted criminals being let out of prison after serving as little as a third of their sentence behind bars will be “part of business as usual”.

Defending Labour’s softest sentencing reforms in a generation, he admitted it could take 10 years to get the prison overcrowding crisis under control.

Under Labour’s plans, many convicts will be out after spending just a third of their jail term in prison.

And those sentenced to four years or more will only be let out after serving 50% of their sentence behind bars.

Mr Norris told LBC: “The Prime Minister has been very clear that he wants 10-year solutions. I’m working on a goal that gets us to sustainable prison capacity 10 years into the future. I wish predecessors 10 years had done that ago frankly, they haven’t, but we’re going to.

“This is now part of business as usual.

“The progression model, where people come out and then are subject to very significant controls.

“You know that is the nature of sentencing in this country from this month.

“But you know we want to make sure, as I say, we have to make sure there’s enough capacity.

“At the moment, we’ve run out in November. We’ve pushed that outwards, and we are working on making sure that’s a 10-year solution.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has faced widespread fury over Labour’s early release, following revelations PC Andrew Harper’s killers would get out early.

Mr Burnham – who had resisted calls to keep killers behind bars – confirmed anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded from the scheme.

Grooming gang perpetrators will also be blocked from early release after concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system.

This will keep another 1,400 prisoners behind bars for longer, justice chiefs said.

The first tranche of releases has been delayed – from September to October. Criminals handed sentences of less than 18 months will be the first to benefit from Labour’s softest sentencing reforms in a generation.

Offenders handed more than 12 years in jail – some of the most dangerous criminals in the country – will start to be freed next June.

Victims whose perpetrators are due for early prison release will be asked what restrictions they want imposed “so they can live their life fully”, the Justice Secretary has said.

Alex Norris told BBC Breakfast: “They will be written to. Letters start going out today.

“They will all be contacted individually by a victim liaison officer, who will then talk to them about, firstly, is their perpetrator coming out sooner than they expected? But secondly – and this is really crucial – that if their perpetrator is coming out sooner, or indeed when their perpetrator comes out in the future, what sort of controls do they want to see so they can live their life fully?”

He said offenders would be “subject to the widest range of tools we’ve ever had”, including restriction zones, tagging, bans on attending football games or night clubs.

Mr Norris continued: “We will be talking through our victim liaison officers to victims and survivors to ask them how they live their lives, so that we can design the restrictions on their perpetrator, so that they live around their victims and survivors, rather than the other way round, which has been the case for far too long.”