Killers and stalkers should live in restricted zones, say victims

People who have committed murder, Manslauhter or stalked crimes should force themselves to live in restricted areas after being released from the prison by license, activists said.

Rhianon Bragg said he felt “trapped” after his stalker was released from the prison subject to an exclusion zone, which meant not to enter the four surrounding counties of his house.

The Ministry of Justice said the exclusion zones prevented criminals from approaching their victims.

But Mrs. Bragg is part of a group of victims who say that this approach must “turn over their head”, with former “high risk” prisoners who can only live, work and travel in specific areas of the rest of their lives.

Some experts have raised groups that such a approach could be equivalent to a violation of the human rights of perpetrators.

Mrs. Bragg, from Gwyndd, was harassed and hero at gunpoint for eight hours by former partner Gareth Wyn Jones in 2019.

Jones was imprisoned for four years and a half year in 2020 and then launched under license in February 2024.

Being a license means that a person is still fulfilling a prison sentence, but can live in the community in strict conditions.

As part of Jones’ license conditions, he was not allowed to enter the four surrounding counties of Mrs. Bragg’s house for a period of five years, but Mrs. Bragg said she began to feel “trapped.”

“We already had freedom, not really,” he said.

“It may sound like a large area, but the clock was marking.

“Simply travel and worry about stopping at a service station so that he could be there,” he added.

“Being out of the security zone felt a real risk, and it shouldn’t be so.”

Mrs. Bragg recently discovered that Jones had died.

“The morning after they told me that I couldn’t find out what I felt, I couldn’t put a name, I felt different, I wasn’t familiar and suddenly it occurred to me, it was freedom,” he said.

“The victims already have enough leg, we should all be able to feel freedom.”

Emma King said she had to “fight” for an exclusion zone of five miles around his house of the man who killed his sister.

Julie Butcher was killed in 2005 by her ex -husband Richard Butcher at her home in Chiseldon, Wiltshire.

Butcher was imprisoned for 13 years, but Mrs. King said she returned to the same area after being released.

“Now we are real from Ourelves imprisoned now in a small area and we will always be looking around our shoulders,” said Mrs. King.

She said that the 50 -mile exclusion zones (80 km) should be the minimum imposed on perpetrators, and that they must be imposed on the sentence to avoid more trauma for the families of the victims.

Mrs. King has joined forces with Carole Gould, whose 17 -year -old daughter Ellie was stabbed at her home in Calne, Wiltshire, in 2019, by Thomas Griffiths after she ended her relationship.

After learning about Mrs. King’s experiences, Gould said she said she was “horrified.”

“On a naive road, I only thought that Griffiths will not be allowed to return to the southwest of England [after being released] But hearing what Emma has to say, that means Griffiths could go back and live with her parents who have chosen not to move from the area, “Gould said.

“They do not take into account the anxiety with which we live at this time, much less the complaint, so we should for our long -term plans.

“Should we get away or sit down and see what happens?”

Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was killed at her home in Berkshire in 2010, has also supported the calls of restricted areas.

Mrs. Parkes, who established Joanna Simpson’s confidence in her daughter’s name to support children affected by domestic abuse and homicide, said the victims were “absolutely terrified” when the perpetrators left prison.

“Every victim with whom I have spoken supports this feeling that the offender should in a restricted area and that the victim should be able to carry out his life, because they have nothing,” said Mrs. Parkes.

“Why should you only make them feel safe in an exclusion zone?

“I am fighting as angry until my dying breath so that people understand. Partly legislators, if they lost a relative like us, would really think differently.”

The latest data from the Ministry of Justice showed that 62,821 people were under license or subject to the supervision after launch as or September 2024.

Craig Court, a Plot in Harding Evans, in southern Wales, who has represented the presidents and victims of abuse, said that the introduction of restricted areas in which criminals could live and work would represent a “real risk” of violating the 1998 Human Rights Law.

He said that the law had played an important role in the configuration of how the license conditions were applied to criminals.

“Victims campaigns have rightly highlighted the need for more restrictive conditions to guarantee their psychological safety and well -being,” said Mr. Court.

“While I agree that such restrictive measures are crucial, especially when there is a continuous risk of damage, the law requests that any restriction, such as a criminal prevention of entering certain areas, must comply with Eagicle 5 [right to liberty] and article 8 [right to private and family life] Or the European Convention of Human Rights. “

The court said that these provisions do not prohibit restrictive conditions, but demanded that they be proportional, necessary and based on a clear evaluation of continuous risk.

He said that the objective was to protect the needs of the victims while not undermining the fundamental rights of criminals.

“As the law is found, confining a criminal to a particular area or restricting a criminal to leave a definite area runs the real risk of violating articles 5 and 8,” he added.

Mrs. Gould said she felt that the emphasis should be “turned his head.”

“These are the human rights of perpetrators and not those of ours, and that is very bad,” he said.

“The radio must be put in them. So we know where they are and we have the freedom of the United Kingdom.”

A spokesman from the Ministry of Justice said: “Victims must feel safe, so that criminals released in the license who break the face of the rules that date back to prison.

“They have to follow strict conditions, such as the touches and the exclusion zones that approach their victims, as well as restrictions on the use of telephone and internet.”

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