MP backs mum's bid to keep son's killer behind bars
PA MediaConservative leader Kemi Badenoch has backed a Newcastle mum's campaign to keep the man responsible for her son's death behind bars.
Seven-year-old Archie York lost his life in an explosion caused by an illegal drugs lab operating in the flat beneath his family home in Benwell in 2024.
Drug dealer Reece Galbraith was handed a 14-year sentence after admitting to manslaughter in connection with the Violet Close blast, but Archie's mother Katherine Errington was told that Galbraith could be among offenders released early due to changes under the Sentencing Act.
Errington has been campaigning to ensure Galbraith is not released early from his jail sentence, amid a national controversy surrounding government plans to free up space in overcrowded prisons. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the opposition leader has now backed her call.
Errington wrote to Badenoch earlier this month to tell her Archie's story, saying that grieving families "should not have to endure the additional pain and anxiety of seeing those responsible released before they have served the sentence the courts deemed appropriate".
Last week Badenoch urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to go further in exempting more serious offenders from early. In a letter seen by the LDRS, she wrote that what happened to Archie was "appalling".
"Archie should have had his whole life ahead of him, and nothing can undo what was taken from him or the devastation inflicted on your family," she said.
PA MediaMore than 3,000 people have signed a petition launched by Errington, which calls on the government to exclude those convicted of manslaughter or of serious child abuse or neglect offences from eligibility for early release.
That also backs the campaign to keep Dana Carr, the mum of murdered County Durham toddler Maya Chappell, from being released early.
In her letter to Errington, Badenoch continued: "You are absolutely right that serious crimes must carry serious consequences.
"When a court passes a sentence following the loss of an innocent life, victims and their families should not then have to watch that sentence being substantially shortened because the government has failed to provide enough prison capacity."
She added: "Your family already lives every day with the consequences of Galbraith's actions. You should not also have to fear that justice for Archie will be weakened because ministers want to ease pressure on the prison estate.
"I will continue to oppose the early release of serious offenders and to press for a justice system which puts victims, public safety and proper punishment first."
'More headroom'
Burnham had ordered a review into the Sentencing Act changes and announced last week that rapists, child sex offenders and those guilty of grooming gang offences would be ineligible.
The government has come under heavy pressure over the PC Andrew Harper case.
He was fatally injured in 2019 when he became caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and was dragged down a country road in Berkshire as his killers fled the scene of a quad bike theft.
Two of his three killers, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, are currently set to be released halfway through their 13-year manslaughter sentences next year.
The prime minister said he had since instructed Justice Secretary Alex Norris to fasttrack plans to create more headroom within the prison system.
Burnham wrote on Tuesday: "I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more.
"As a result, I have asked the justice secretary to fast-track the development of a plan for presentation to Parliament early next month to create more headroom within the prison system."
The plans, expected to be presented to Parliament in September, will include increasing the rate of removal of foreign national offenders from prisons to their country of origin and having male offenders housed in cells currently reserved for female prisoners.
Burnham said: "I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offenders like those convicted of the killing of PC Harper, prevent their early release altogether."