As Oliver Freckleton headed out to a house party in December 2021 his parents reminded him not to stay out late.
He was due to go to a safari park with his girlfriend and their new baby the next day. He was about to turn 20 and his father, Rob, remembers they’d already laid out his birthday presents at their home in Burton-upon-Trent.
But that night they received a call that Oliver had been attacked. Rob’s wife and their younger son drove straight to the scene.
“They were greeted by armed police,” recalls Rob, who was on the phone to them throughout.
“My wife lay down on the floor… they were trying to resuscitate Oliver,” he says, choking back tears.
But there was nothing anyone could do. Oliver had been fatally stabbed. After 45 minutes he was pronounced dead.
“I remember just screaming and collapsing on the floor,” says Rob.
The family endured a three-month trial and one man, Chardon Carnagie, was convicted of Oliver’s murder.
Three other people were convicted of manslaughter. The shortest sentence – three years and seven months – was handed to Travel Reid, then 21.
But Rob says earlier this year, just two years after Oliver’s death, the family got a call to say Reid was out of prison.
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Prisoners to be released after serving 40% of sentence
Early release prisoner describes chaos
“He got released in January and it was end of February, beginning of March he got recalled for a breach of his license and we weren’t told what that breach was, but then we were told to do a report, an impact statement.
“We supplied the impact statements that we’d made in court and we added to them the effect that it’s had on us since, and the reasons why he should now serve the rest of his sentence in custody,” he says.
“And then we got a phone call saying ‘that’s not going to happen, we’re going to re-release him after 30 days’.”
Rob says it’s left his whole family shaken.
“I’m angry, obviously disappointed, disappointed in a system that, you know, you’re brought up to believe in.”
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The government has announced thousands of prisoners are to be released earlier than planned to help alleviate overcrowding. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said failing to act now risks “the collapse of the criminal justice system”.
Prisoners in England and Wales, apart from the most serious offenders, are usually released on licence after serving 50% of their sentence.
From September, this will be reduced to 40%.
The reduction in time served will not apply to those who committed serious violent offences with sentences of four years or more.
Rob believes the prison crisis has been “coming to a point for a very long time. Everyone’s known about it,” he says.
“Is the answer to release prisoners early? No, no it’s not.
“What I say might be controversial but these prisoners, they’ve got rooms in their cells for televisions, luxuries. Take them out and put another bed in. I know there’s people out there saying that’s inhumane. So what? Really, so what?
“What has Oliver got now? What have our family got? What have these other victims’ families got?”
Source Agencies
