'My rapist was nearly released early by mistake'

The early release scheme was in place to ease overcrowding in prisons, according to the government

A victim of domestic abuse has spoken out after her rapist was almost released from his prison sentence early by mistake.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has admitted the error, but Kate, not her real name, told the BBC the damage had already been done.

When Kate was told her attacker was set to be released in the coming weeks, she said she had "burst out crying" and begged the MoJ not to free him.

"I felt like it was a nightmare I wasn’t going to wake up from," the mum-of-three, from South Yorkshire, said.

For 13 years, Kate and her children were physically attacked by her ex-partner.

Despite him being sentenced to 16 years in prison for the sexual offences and abuse he committed, he was included, in error, in a list of prisoners drawn up as part of the government's early release scheme.

"The distress that I felt, I felt retraumatised, I felt like a victim all over again," she said. "I felt scared for my life."

'Extremely violent'

Kate, not her real name, spoke to the BBC on the condition of anonymity

The MoJ later corrected the error and confirmed he was not eligible for the scheme.

Kate added: "I said, 'this can’t be right, he’s literally got sexual offences, he’s extremely violent'."

Under the scheme, designed to relieve the pressure of overcrowding in the prison system, some inmates have been released after serving 40% of their sentence instead of half.

Sex offenders and those convicted of domestic abuse were not supposed to be considered.

Broken bones

When Kate met her partner, she said she had felt "lucky" and at first he treated her well.

But an argument led to the mum-of-three being hit by the man, who "beat me really bad", she said.

From them on, she was struck "a few times a week" and her injuries included broken bones, torn tendons and severe bruising.

The abuse turned sexually violent and she was raped and assaulted.

On one occasion, he told her children: "You’re not going to have a mummy anymore, I’m going to chop her up and put her in the blue bin."

Her children were also attacked, with Kate "taking the punches and the kicks" to protect them.

If she tried to escape the abuse, he threatened to find her, she said.

Now in her 40s, Kate said that telling a social worker about the violence had been "hard but the best thing I've ever done".

"Her face said everything. She just couldn’t really take in what I said and I told her everything," she said.

"I knew it was either going to be one of the children, myself or all of us [who were killed]. I just couldn’t cope any more."

She was told about the potential release at a meeting earlier this month, and after challenging the information, the MoJ told her that he may have been charged under old legislation that did not identify him as ineligible for the scheme.

"These are not little mistakes, they’re huge," she said. "The government are going to have blood on their hands."

A spokesperson for the MoJ said public safety was the "top priority".

"We understand this incident will be distressing to victims which is why we immediately contacted those in the Victim Contact Scheme and offered additional support as soon as the extent of the issue was known," they said.

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