A domestic violence survivor who was punched, threatened with a knife and had her front door kicked in by her former partner is “living in terror” because he has still not been fitted with a tracking tag, weeks after his release from prison.
asserted
he → punch → prison
Michelle, 38, who now lives in a static caravan with her four children, said relatives were sleeping on her floor in case the man tried to attack again.
asserted
man → live → case
He had been recalled to prison on several occasions before for breaching his probation conditions.
asserted
He → recall → conditions
“The police and probation know that he is a threat to me and has breached the terms of his probation before.
asserted
he → know → probation
It is as if they are waiting for something really bad to happen to me or my children before they help,” she said.
asserted
she → wait → me
Michelle is among hundreds of domestic violence survivors demanding to know why tags are not being fitted on offenders as they leave prison.
asserted
they → demand → prison
Instead, the private-sector firm Serco is being contracted to fit them after they have been released.
asserted
they → contract → them
“They should be tagged as soon as they come out,” Michelle said.
asserted
Michelle → tag → ?
“Who knows where violent people are going to go and what they are going to do?
asserted
they → know → what
Tags should be fitted in prison before they walk out the door.”
asserted
they → fit → door
Nearly half of offenders are not tagged “promptly” on release, and in one in 10 cases a device is fitted up to five months later, according to a report released on Thursday by the chief inspectors for probation and prisons.
uncertain
device → tag → probation
The prison officers’ union, POA, has written to the justice secretary, Alex Norris, suggesting members should be trained to fit tags in prison.
asserted
members → write → prison
Michelle said she was first punched in the face by her former partner, a crack cocaine user and the father of her three-year-old boy, in early 2024.
asserted
she → say → 2024
She called the police, and he was arrested and bailed.
asserted
he → call → police
The following day, he returned to her then five-bedroom, privately rented home, kicked in the door and threatened her with a knife, she said.
asserted
she → return → knife
“My 16-year-old son had to intervene to drag him off me after he held me down by my hair and waved a knife around.
asserted
he → have → knife
My ex-partner was convinced I had another man in my bedroom,” she said.
asserted
she → convince → bedroom
He was convicted of two counts of assault by beating and one count of affray, and sentenced to 38 months in November 2024.
asserted
He → convict → November
On release in February 2025, he was ordered to stay away from Michelle’s home and the town where she lives.
asserted
she → order → home
He breached the terms of his probation in July 2025 and April and August this year: photos he and his friends uploaded showed him at parties and pubs in towns from which he was barred.
asserted
he → breach → which
Michelle reported two of these breaches, resulting in the man being recalled to prison for 56 days on both occasions.
asserted
man → report → occasions
On 15 October, he was released, with Michelle’s police liaison officer reassuring her that a GPS tag would be fitted to keep track of his movements.
asserted
tag → release → movements
But no tag has been fitted, leaving Michelle “living in terror” that he could attack her home, her now 18-year-old son, or attempt to abduct the three-year-old.
uncertain
he → fit → old
Michelle said she was forced to leave her five-bedroom rented house and move into a caravan, following council advice.
asserted
she → say → advice
“The police know that he has breached the terms of his probation before, they know that he is violent.
asserted
he → know → probation
It is really unfair that he can be released straight into the local area and his movements are not monitored.
asserted
movements → release → area
We have had to completely change our lives.
asserted
We → have → lives
I hardly let my children out and I am worried that he could attack at night,” she said.
uncertain
she → let → night
Vikki Slade, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, raised Michelle’s case in parliament on Monday, demanding to know why domestic violence survivors with children were not being given more protection.
asserted
survivors → raise → protection
“The fact that we are still releasing people without a tag from prisons is utterly crazy,” she said.
asserted
she → release → prisons
The watchdog’s report released this week disclosed that Serco, the tagging contractor, had been deemed to have met its performance targets by attempting to fit the devices, rather than actually fitting them and ensuring they worked.
asserted
they → release → them
It said that one of the main reasons for tags not being fitted was that the offender was not at an agreed address when contractors arrived.
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contractors → say → address
This accounted for a third of the 5,000 criminals in the community without tags.
asserted
This → account → tags
In a letter to Norris this month, Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the POA, proposed that the government train prison officers to fit and activate electronic tags before prisoners are freed.
asserted
prisoners → propose → tags
“Given the documented performance issues, the importance of public protection and the availability of an experienced public sector workforce, there is a compelling case for a formal assessment of insourcing,” he wrote.
asserted
he → give → insourcing
The Ministry of Justice said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis after a decade of underinvestment but are taking the tough decisions needed to fix it.
asserted
We → say → it
This includes the biggest ever expansion of electronic monitoring and tagging more offenders before they leave the prison gates.”
asserted
they → include → gates
A Serco spokesperson said the firm attempted to fit an electronic monitoring device to every person required to wear one.
asserted
firm → say → one
“Where it is not possible to fit a device, or where the person breaches the conditions of their release, the individual is reported to the relevant authorities, who are responsible for considering and taking any further action,” they said.
asserted
they → fit → action
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