Teens trapped for two decades on indefinite jail terms finally freed

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Two men who have languished in prison for two decades after being handed controversial indefinite jail terms aged just 17 are finally free after their sentences were overturned.

Luke Ings was sentenced in 2006 to a minimum tariff of 21 months after he was handed a Detention for Public Protection (DPP) jail term – the youth equivalent of an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail term – following a robbery and a fight in McDonald’s.

With time already spent on remand, he expected to serve just over 18 months, but was trapped for over 20 years without parole.

Liam Bennett was told in 2007 to serve a minimum of two years for arson after setting a fire in the attic of an empty building, which caused £3000 worth of damage and left no-one hurt.

But he was also left to languish until judges quashed both of their DPP sentences after their cases were referred for appeal by the miscarriages of justice watchdog.

The Independent has repeatedly called for all remaining IPP and DPP prisoners to have their sentences reviewed, highlighting shocking cases including Mr Ing’s and Mr Bennett’s.

At an appeal hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Choudhary replaced Mr Bennett’s indefinite sentence with a fixed term of four years and 264 days. He ruled Mr Ings should have been sentenced to 42 months with a 30-month extended licence. Given the time they have already served, it means both men – now 38 – will be immediately released.

Relatives of Mr Ings and Mr Bennett hugged in the public gallery as the judge told them the indeterminate sentences had been “cancelled”.

James Ward, who was handed an IPP sentence with a one-year minimum tariff for arson and criminal damage in 2006, also had his sentence overturned. He had been granted parole in August this year but was still subject to his IPP licence and was sitting in the public gallery for the hearing.

Mr Justice Choudhury, sitting with magistrate Norma Grant, told the appellants: “You have already spent considerably longer than those (replacement) sentences in custody.

“The effect is that you, Mr Bennett, and you, Mr Ings, will be entitled to release without further supervision, and you, Mr Ward, will no longer be subject to supervision.”

The open-ended punishments were scrapped in 2012, but not retrospectively, leaving thousands languishing in prison without a release date.

Andy Burnham last month pledged to bring legislation to end the “long-running” injustice of IPP sentences before the end of this parliament, bringing hope to thousands of such prisoners for the first time. Details of how the scandal will be addressed are to be decided by a cross-party oversight group.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is also reviewing more than 250 cases and has so far referred 25 cases to the appeal courts this year after a string of sentences were overturned by judges.

Mr Bennett was originally sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court in May 2007 after being found guilty of reckless arson for setting fire to items in the loft space of an empty council property, and admitting criminal damage and burglary.

Speaking to The Independent from prison in 2024, he pleaded “I deserve my chance” at freedom, adding: “How can it be fair to not have a release date?”

Dr Muin Boase successfully argued that the judge who sentenced him in 2007 did not give proper weight to his youth, lack of maturity and capacity to change, after a difficult childhood.

In its ruling, the appeal court said there had been no proper basis for the original finding of dangerousness.

Mr Ings was sentenced to detention for public protection after admitting offences at East Berkshire Youth Court in March 2006, including a robbery in an underpass and an assault on a teenager in a fast food outlet.

Speaking to The Independent in 2024, his mother Samantha pleaded for his release, saying: “I understand if they had murdered someone or raped someone. My son was in a fight in McDonald’s and a street robbery.

“He was 17 years old and my mum had died two weeks before that. He went off the rails. I don’t know what else to do to get him out.”

His lawyer Annie Fendrich did not challenge the original court’s finding of dangerousness, but argued that the public would have been adequately protected by an extended sentence.

Mr Justice Choudhury said a judge “not considering an extended sentence” in 2006 had been a “very serious error” and that Ings’ then age, 17, was a critical factor to take into account.

Mr Ward, now 41, was 21 when he was given a one-year minimum in 2006 at Leicester Crown Court for arson and criminal damage.

He admitted arson – after setting fire to items in his prison cell while serving time for assault – and was released in 2017, but was later recalled to prison and remained in custody until August this year.

His lawyer Stephen Grattage submitted that it was wrong for the original court to have made a presumption of dangerousness in his case, which the appeal court agreed had been “unreasonable” in light of an arson offence at “the less serious end of the spectrum”.

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