Newsletters

From time to time, newsletters containing updates on the campaign are emailed to interested parties. To get yourself added to the distribution list, just send me an email using the Contacts page.

December 29th 2011 - Frank is transferred to North Sea Camp, a Category D open prison

Although it is very unusual for a prisoner to be transferred from a Category A high security prison, like Long Lartin, to a Category D open prison, like North Sea Camp, this is exactly what happened on December 29th. Frank seems to have achieved this thanks to his own efforts rather than those of the Prison Service. While the OMU at Long Lartin directed their efforts towards getting him into a Category C prison - and, in September, actually offered him such a transfer (which he refused) - Frank applied directly to North Sea Camp supplying a sort of CV and introducing himself. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, they agreed to take him and he was put on the waiting list. The start of the next parole review process in December (the next oral hearing is scheduled for May 2012) seems eventually to have provided the impetus to go ahead with the transfer and Frank found himself moving from being double-handcuffed in a prison van to being allowed freely to move about for the first time in over 25 years.
Full details of the transfer and of the current state of play can be found in Newsletter Number 10.

July 20th 2011 - the Secretary of State agrees with the Parole Board recommendation to transfer Frank to open prison

After an impressively thorough Parole Board Oral Hearing held at Long Lartin on May 26th, the Parole Board's decision letter on June 9th concluded:
The panel...has decided to recommend that you should be transferred to open conditions. We are satisfied that there is a low risk of your absconding and we consider, on weighty evidence, that your risk has reduced to a level where you can now be safely held in open conditions while the durability and genuineness of your apparent behavioural changes can be tested further and a workable and secure risk management and release plan can be developed.
Fantastic! However, the Offender Management Unit at Long Lartin could not accept such an unusual outcome and, while the Secretary of State considered this recommendation, lodged a challenge on June 13th. Frank's solicitor eventually received a copy of this challenge and responded pointing out its weaknesses and mistakes. On July 20th, a week later, Frank received a letter from the Public Protection Casework Section at the National Offender Management Service saying:
As you know the Parole Board has recommended your transfer to open prison. The Secretary of State has now considered the Parole Board recommendation, and agrees with this view for the reasons given by the Panel...
We now expect Frank to be transferred to an open prison in the near future. At the next scheduled Parole Board Oral hearing (scheduled for September 2012), there is the realistic expectation that Frank's release - at long last - will be recommended.
Full details of this parole process can be found in Newsletters Number 8 and Number 9 .

July 20th 2009 - the CCRC allocate a Case Review Manager to Frank's review application

The review process will consider the issues raised in the application and assess what lines of enquiry or further information is required in order to address those issues. Once this work is complete, the application will progress to the decision-making stage. The Case Review Manager's findings will go to a Commissioner or a panel of Commissioners who will have to consider whether there is any new evidence or new argument which raises a real possibility that Frank's conviction would be overturned if it were referred to the Court of Appeal. If this test is met, then the case will be referred to the Court of Appeal. If this test is not met, then the Commission will issue a provisional decision explaining why the case does not meet the criteria for a reference. All of this is likely to take several months.

July 1st 2009 - Frank is told of his downgrade to Category B

Today, Frank's personal officer told him that he has - at long last - been downgraded from Category A to Category B. (Read Frank's own account here.) After 23 years in prison as a Category A prisoner, this is the first real sign that progress for Frank within the prison system might just be possible. This move has come as something of a surprise, not least to Frank. After the unpromising recent events - see below - it seemed all but inevitable that another year would go by with Frank and the Prison Service at an impasse. At the turn of this year, Frank wrote in a blog:
When I am sitting alone in my cell at night, there is the temptation to think that this nightmare will never end - and then I glance up at the wall. Just a few feet from my face as I sit at my table, held there by sellotape, is a piece of paper sent to me by Mrs Hilary Hinchliffe MBE a long time ago. The bit of paper is old and yellowed now, but that does not detract from the message thereon. In the words of Arthur Clough, as sent to me by Hilary:
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the Main.
Perhaps, at last, the tide is turning after all.

June 24th - Failure of Secretary of State's appeal against the recent Judicial Review finding in Frank's favour

After the finding in Frank's favour at the Administrative Court on March 24th (see below for details), the Secretary of State successfully sought leave to appeal that decision and the appeal went before The Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Scott Baker, and Lady Justice Smith on Wednesday 24th June 2009. The result of the hearing was that the Court refused the Secretary of State's application to proceed with an appeal. Heartening news - and the failure of this appeal would seem to have played a decisive role in Frank's unexpected re-categorization shortly afterwards.

June 9th 2009 - Latest Sentence Planning Board

This did not go well - read Frank's own account of proceedings here. Once again, you get the impression of the actors being content to read from the script with no intention of getting to grips with the drama in which they are involved.

June 2nd 2009 - Category A Review

Frank's latest Category A review was considered at a Local Advisory panel at Long Lartin on June 2nd. Neither Frank nor his personal officer were involved - in fact, his personal officer had no idea that the review was taking place at all. This looks very much as though the motions are being gone through but those involved have no real appetite for finding out for themselves the real level of risk posed by Frank. It does not bode well for the final review by the Category A Team scheduled for June 24th (the same date as the hearing of the Secretary of State's appeal - see below).

June 2009 - Secretary of State granted permission to appeal

The Secretary of State has been granted permission to appeal against the recent Judicial Review in Frank's favour (see entry for April 3rd below) and the hearing has been scheduled for June 24th. So - the hearing to decide whether or not the last Category A Review was conducted fairly and correctly will take place on the same day that the Category A Review Team meet to conduct their latest review!

May 2009 - The Ministry of Justice seeks to appeal against the recent Judicial Review in Frank's favour

The Secretary of State is seeking permission to appeal against the judgement of the High Court - see entry for April 3rd below. The next step will be for a single judge to consider the application submitted by the Treasury Solicitor on April 15th. Until the outcome of the appeal is known, no oral hearing will take place as part of a Category A Review. Meanwhile, Frank has heard that reports for his next Category A Review have already been gathered - the Local Advisory Panel will hold their review on June 2nd and, having received their recommendations, the Category A Review Team will hold theirs on June 24th. Depressingly, it looks like all concerned are absolutely prepared to go round the circle again.

April 5th 2009 - Unexpected moves to censor Frank's mail and to Long Lartin

At lunchtime on Monday March 30th, Frank was told that he was being taken somewhere for an overnight stay only. Once in reception and wearing handcuffs, he was told he was going to Long Lartin prison "to do courses". With no writing materials for 3 days, he was only able to get news of the move to me yesterday.
In the week preceding this move, his normal weekly recorded delivery envelope to me - containing his weekly blog and latest chapter of his prison autobiography - was returned to him with a note explaining that it had been stopped from leaving the prison on the grounds that what was being posted was "part of a novel detailing his experiences within prison". It is not a novel and, anyway, almost 800 pages of it have already been posted out with no intervention or apparent interest from the prison at all.
It is dificult to understand the significance of these recent developments, though the timing seems to coincide with the Judicial Review result. Perhaps the intention to provide access to courses is genuine - the CSCP course, for instance, which it has been recommended Frank take, is available at Long Lartin but not at Whitemoor. But what to make of the sudden censorship of Frank's autobiography? We must wait and see. Meanwhile, Frank is writing to his solicitor to see what can be done on that front.
Read Frank's own reaction to this censorship here.

April 5th 2009 - Parole Board Report disappoints

On March 25th, Frank finally received the The Parole Board report of the Mandatory Lifer Panel Oral Hearing held at HMP Whitemoor on March 12th. After the promising conduct of the hearing itself ( read Frank's own report of this here), this report is disappointing. Although not a complete surprise that neither Frank's release nor a move to open conditions is recommended, it is the tone of the report that disappoints. It repeats the mantra that risk must be further reduced through offending behaviour work and so supports the stance of the Category A Review Team. There is little sign here of the schism between the Parole Board and the Prison Service that was apparent after his last Parole Board hearing and that we had hoped to see continue and perhaps develop.
Read the Parole Board report itself here.
Read Frank's own response to the report here.

April 3rd 2009 - Judicial Review finds in Frank's favour

We have just heard from Frank's solicitors that the Judicial Review to consider whether or not the Category A Team should have held an oral hearing when conducting Frank's last two Category A Reviews found in Frank's favour - see the official transcript of the review for details.

January 2009 - Third Mandatory Lifer Panel rescheduled

Frank has just heard that this oral hearing is now scheduled to take place on March 12th.

December 2008 - Date fixed for third Mandatory Lifer Panel

Once a life sentence prisoner's tariff has expired, a Parole Board panel meets every year to consider three points:
  1. Should the prisoner be released?
  2. Should the prisoner be moved to open conditions?
  3. Are there continuing areas of risk that the prisoner needs to address?
The Parole Board will hold its third such meeting - an oral hearing at HMP Whitemoor - on February 20th and Frank will be at that hearing. The Board's remit here is fairly narrow - it is being asked to advise the Secretary of State only and is not being asked to consider areas such as security classification. It should be noted that the assessment of Frank's progress made in the last panel report was significantly more favourable in tone than that made by the Category A Team in the Ministry of Justice - the team that actually has the power to downgrade his classification. While we don't expect the panel to recommend either release or a move to open conditions, the report setting out the reasons for their decision always makes interesting reading and will be sent to Frank within 7 days of the hearing.

November 2008 - CCRC considering application for review of Frank's case

Frank's application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, plus supporting documentation from his legal team, was received by the Commission at the beginning of November. This will be passed to a Commissioner who will decide whether or not the application will be accepted.

October 2008 - Mandatory Lifer Panel hearing delayed

Frank's third Mandatory Lifer Panel hearing was due to take place in December but, since the Parole Board is having "listing problems", this is now likely to be delayed until January or February 2009.

September 2008 - Date fixed for the Judicial Review

Frank's case against the last Category A Review is due to be heard at the Administrative Court on March 24th 2009. No "grounds of contention" were received from the Secretary of State. Frank will not appear at this hearing - such hearings normally consider documentary evidence only and look at whether the correct procedures were followed. The Judge may provide a judgement immediately following the hearing or may reserve judgement in order to consider the evidence further.

June 2008 - Permission granted to pursue Judicial Review

Following the oral hearing in the High Court on June 9th, the Court felt that there are arguable grounds to pursue an application for a Judicial Review of the Secretary of State's last Category A Review decision. By July 14th, the Secretary of State must provide detailed "grounds of contention" (i.e. a refutation of the grounds for review put forward by Frank's solicitors). The matter will then be listed on what is known as a "warned list", which will be a date when the Judicial Review may occur. That date will be confirmed when all parties have indicated their availability. We will post details of the Secretary of State's "grounds of contention" when we have them.

May 2008 - Judicial Review Preliminary Hearing set for June 9th

Frank's solicitors have begun proceedings to seek a court order that the Secretary of State reconsider the decision from the last Category A Review (see below). The first step of this process is an oral permission application listed to be heard at the High Court, Strand on June 9th 2008. The hearing will decide whether there are sufficient prospects of success to argue the full case at a later date. We will post the result of this hearing on the Newsdesk as soon as we have it.

October 17th 2007 - Category A Review Team Say "No"

The Director of High Security reviewed Frank's case on September 19th 2007 and decided that Frank is to remain Category A (Standard Escape Risk). Frank received news of this decision in a letter from the Category A Review Team on October 17th. Although Frank has schooled himself never to have any great expectations, for the rest of us this was hard to accept. It seems that the Local Advisory Panel and the Category A Review Team have looked at the same set of facts and come to diametrically opposed conclusions. (Read the full decision - and Frank's reactions to it.)

July 30th 2007 - Governor Recommends Downgrade to Category B

The Local Advisory Panel met to consider Frank's Category A Review on June 14th. On July 30th, Frank received a memo containing the Governor's recommendation, which was to downgrade his category to Category B. (He will receive his decision leter from Prison Service Headquarters in due course.) This is a landmark indeed - the first sign of movement in over 20 years of imprisonment.

June 6th 2007 - Category A Review

The Category A review is due to be considered at a Local Advisory panel on June 6th 2007 and subsequently referred to the Category A Review Team. This is Frank's first Category A review since the Mandatory Lifer Panel hearing last year - at which it was made clear by the judge that previous reviews had been based on inaccurate and out of date reports on Frank's behaviour and progress. We will let you know the results of the review as soon as we have them...

November 28th 2006 - Mandatory Lifer Panel Hearing

At the panel hearing of June last year, the chairman ruled that Frank's case deserved a full day's consideration before a further hearing later in the year. (See Frank's blog for a full report of this June hearing.) This second hearing took place on November 28th and the panel report was issued shortly thereafter. (Read Hilary Hinchliffe's review of the report.)