'This country is run by clowns': Outrage as domestic abusers are released early from prison by Labour as Jess Phillips admits there will be 'huge recalls' in the coming weeks

A survivor of domestic abuse has said she feels like she is in a circus after Labour's early release scheme today flooded the streets with dozens of violent sex attackers.Around 700 criminals serving sentences of up to 19 months were released today in the first stage of the scheme, which is set to free more than 4,500 in total by June.As well as thieves and fraudsters, they include domestic abusers and criminals convicted of certain violent or sexual offences – raising fears for the safety of victims.The move has been condemned as an 'insult to victims' by Conservative shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy who said the public would 'pay the price'.Rachel Williams, founder of Stand up to Domestic Abuse, also criticised the decision today – insisting people would be 'clapping like a bunch of seals' if they ever witnessed the day a perpetrator got two years behind bars.She told Times Radio: 'We can't get decent sentences for non–fatal strangulation… We see prisoners go into prison for lengthy sentences, like the guy who chucked the plastic bottle at the police for two years. 'If a perpetrator of abuse got two years prison, we'd be clapping like a bunch of seals, we don't see it.'Sometimes I wake up and if I'm totally honest, I feel like I'm in a circus and the country's being run by clowns because domestic abuse is not rocket science. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come under fire after around 700 criminals serving sentences of up to 19 months were released today Rachel Williams, founder of Stand up to Domestic Abuse today said the public would be 'clapping like a bunch of seals' if they ever witnessed a perpetrator of abuse get as little as two years in prison. She is pictured here with her abusive husband Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips admitted she expected large number of domestic abusers to be recalled to prison having been released early'The criminal justice system is constantly letting us down. We're sick of the lip service and we deserve better.'Ms Williams, from Newport in Wales, was shot in the leg and savagely beaten after she asked her ex-husband Darren Williams for a divorce in 2011.After attacking her at the salon where she worked Williams later hanged himself. Her 16-year-old son took his own life just six weeks later, having witnessed years of the abuse.Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips today admitted she expected a large number of domestic abusers to be recalled to prison having been released early.She said: 'I would be lying if I said that I was completely confident today that everything that I think should be in place, and many of us have fought for to be in place, will actually be there.'I expect there will be huge recalls to prison of domestic abusers. In a real tendency to breach their orders, breach their licences, get in touch with their victims, their children.'Among those released today were Shaun Craigie, 36, who left HMP Pentonville in north London with a clear plastic bag. Asked what he was jailed for, he answered 'domestics'.Twenty minutes later, Mohammed Sharif, 43, left after serving 21 months for a domestic offence relating to his partner. He claimed to be innocent and said: 'It's good to be getting released early. There are a lot of horrible things in there like mice and cockroaches.' For some, freedom did not last long, with one Wandsworth inmate stopped by British Transport Police officers seconds after walking out Inmates pour out of HMP Durham in the north-east of England this morning. It is unknown what crimes they had been serving sentences for More scenes of jubilation outside Leeds Prison today as early releases got underway. t is unknown what crimes they had been serving sentences for Two men on a motorbike outside HMP Leeds show support for the prisoners that have been released today. It is unknown what crimes they had been serving sentences forAlso walking free today was Alastair McCallum, 36, who had served six months of a 13-month sentence for ABH. He said: 'It feels good to be out. I was in for a domestic.'One domestic abuse survivor expressed her fears that her ex-husband will pursue her after he is let out on licence.Claire Milne was abused over a period of eight years by Robert Dales, 36, who was sentenced in March to three years in prison for controlling and coercive behaviour.Ms Milne, who fled her home with her nine-week-old baby in April 2025, now fears for her life.'I am scared that he will come after me – I don't want to die,' she told the BBC.'I am not a silly woman. I know that I've been in a very high–risk domestic abuse relationship and I know what he's capable of because I lived it.'The Government says it has been forced to let criminals out to free up space in overcrowded jails and stop the justice system from collapsing.Justice Secretary Alex Norris said: 'We understand the anxiety victims face ahead of offenders' release dates, but the greatest danger to victims would be prisons running out of cells for dangerous criminals, which was the crisis this Government inherited. Robert Dales, 36, who was sentenced in March to three years in prison for abusing his wife, Claire Milne. They are pictured together 'Our plan will make sure this never happens again by building 14,000 prison places while subjecting offenders to the toughest–ever controls, leaving them nowhere to hide and under no doubt that we are watching them.'The first releases coincided with the Justice Secretary being sworn in as Lord Chancellor at a ceremony at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London on the first day of the new legal year, where he vowed to the most senior judges in England and Wales that he would be 'ambitious' in his bid to cut the backlog of court cases.Catherine Atkinson, Labour MP for Derby North and chairman of the Commons Justice Committee, said the releases were 'regretfully a matter of necessity after more than a decade of policy failure to manage the estate's long–running capacity issues'.The safety of victims and the public 'must be paramount,' she said, adding: 'Serious questions remain over the pressures on probation and prison staff, the effectiveness of electronic monitoring, as well as the system's readiness to manage the return of offenders back into communities in the coming months.'Speaking outside HMP Wandsworth today, Reform UK's candidate for mayor of London insisted she would 'hang my head in shame' if she were Prime Minister Andy Burnham.She said: 'He (the Prime Minister) should go speak to every domestic abuse victim who is fleeing her home and look them in the eye and say how's he going to help them, what's he going to do for them?'Labour's previous early release scheme – allowing offenders out after serving 40 per cent of their sentences – has seen 70,066 criminals freed between its launch in September 2024 and the end of March.It led to distasteful scenes at its launch when lags celebrated their freedom outside jails.Some were collected by friends in expensive sports cars or popped bottles of bubbly, while others vowed to be lifelong Labour voters as a result of their early release.Mr Burnham paused the release programme over the summer and later announced that criminals convicted of rape, serious child sex offences and grooming would be excluded.Then there was a further outcry, with the widow of murdered PC Andrew Harper blasting the scheme as 'deplorable'.Lissie Harper – who married the officer one month before he was dragged to his death by a car in 2019 – blasted Labour after it emerged that two of his killers would be eligible under the new scheme.The PM changed the terms again to exclude those convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter.The early release scheme was set out in Labour's Sentencing Act which also contained separate measures which, from March this year, largely barred the courts from imposing prison sentences of 12 months or less.Senior police chiefs have repeatedly warned the measures as a whole will lead to an increase in crime and cost forces £400million a year to deal with.