Anthony Rice

I should like to make a statement about the management of dangerous offenders in the light of the murder of Naomi Bryant by Anthony Rice, a prisoner serving a discretionary life sentence who was on life licence at the time he committed the murder. I have today placed in the Library of the House a copy of a report produced by HM Chief Inspector of Probation of the circumstances surrounding this case and, in particular, of the management of Rice throughout his previous sentence. I would first offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Naomi Bryant. I deeply regret that she should have been murdered in these circumstances. While nothing can compensate for her loss, we have a duty to ensure that lessons are learned and that the chances of another family having to suffer such loss again are as low as we can make them. I am grateful to the Chief Inspector of Probation for his report which is a thorough and serious piece of work which merits careful consideration. It makes a number of criticisms about failures in the criminal justice system at various stages in the management of Anthony Rice. While individual members of staff did their best to discharge the very onerous responsibilities involved in managing dangerous offenders, there was, he finds, a series of errors and misjudgements that contributed to a case that was not managed to the standard the public have a right to expect. The Chief Inspector concludes that ““on balance Anthony Rice should not have been released on life licence in the first place, and once he had been released he could and should have been better managed””. The Chief Inspector makes four principal findings and accompanies each with a key recommendation. These are supported by further practice recommendations. Given that he finds shortcomings at the various stages of the management of Rice, the Chief Inspector makes a final recommendation that ““there should be a major appraisal of current policy and practice for releasing prisoners from indeterminate sentences””. I take this report extremely seriously. The Government's first duty is to protect the citizens of this country, and I am determined that we should make our systems and procedures as effective and efficient as possible in order to do this. My right hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Charles Clarke) announced to the House on 20 April a series of measures the Government would be taking in response to the report by the Chief Inspector of Probation on the Monckton case. That work will be broadened out to include the recommendations in this report. I can assure that House that I will move quickly to improve our processes and systems, including through legislation if necessary. We will consider the Chief Inspector's report extremely carefully and expeditiously. We need to move fast but, equally, these are weighty recommendations and we need to give them full consideration. I do not therefore propose to announce new measures today. I shall, however, return to this House as soon as I am able to do so.