Three members of staff at HMP Ranby have been disciplined over the early release of prolific criminal Gavin Collins. Collins was released on 18 April 2019. Less than 24 hours later he drove a stolen car into 87 year old Terry Radford, killing him. After driving into Radford, Collins got out of the car and shouted “I’ve killed him. I’ve killed the devil.”
Yesterday (Wednesday) during a debate in Westminster Hall, Prisons Minister Edward Argar, the Conservative MP for Charnwood, told MPs that an internal investigation did not reveal any criminal offences by the staff members, but said that they did face disciplinary proceedings.
In a debate tabled by Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, Argar said: “Although it pains me, I am legally unable to disclose the details of those disciplinary proceedings, as I am advised that to do so would be acting in breach of the law”.
Collins had been released early under the home detention curfew scheme (HDC). And while the offences he had been sentenced to were ones that meant he could be considered for early release, Collins’ behaviour, mental health and level of risk had not been considered by prison officials prior to his release. In any event, he should not have been eligible for release until at least 29 April that year.
Opening the debate, Anderson gave MPs a timeline of key events:
- On 9 November 2017, Collins was sentenced to five months in prison for an offence that had been committed in May that year. He had been held on remand so was released the following day.
- The following month, in December 2017, Collins committed various offences, including theft and burglary. On 11 July 2018 he was sentenced to three years in prison for these offences.
- On 4 April 2019, when Governor Archer at HMP Ranby began considering Collins’ paperwork, Collins was in a segregation wing after twice setting fire to his cell and injuring a staff member with a plastic knife.
- On 13 April 2019, Nottinghamshire Police informed the prison that they would not open a criminal investigation as the offences could be dealt with internally by the prison.
- On 15 April 2019, Governors Archer, Cope and Fretwell spoke about Collins release. With a bank holiday coming up, it was decided that Collins would be released on 18 April.
- On 16 April, Collins woke up other prisoners, saying he was dying. He was checked and found to be medically fit. Later that day he was lying on the ground in the exercise yard and said that he had been poisoned by Methadone.
- On the morning of 18 April 2019, Collins was released and collected by a family friend, who “said that he did not look right”, Anderson said, “he was talking funny and his behaviour was strange, as though he had been on drugs. The friend took him home and told family members how concerned he was for Collins. That was when the trail of havoc started.”
Anderson said: “On 19 April 2019, Collins forced his way into several people’s homes and stole three cars. He crashed the first two cars and then forced his way into a woman’s home by smashing the back door. Collins then used blood from his injuries to daub crucifixes on the heads of the women and her children, while talking about God and making threats to kill them.
“He then stole the woman’s car, which he used to drive into Mr Radford. Before he got out, he shouted, ‘I’ve killed him, I’ve killed the devil.’ Mr Radford had just gone out for his morning walk and was waiting near a bus stop, minding his own business. He died at the scene. . .
“Terry’s death need not have happened. Terry might still be here today had it not been for the failures of HMP Ranby and the three governors who made the wrong decision to release Collins, which ultimately led to the death of Terry Radford.”
On 14 January 2022, Coroner Laurinda Bower, concluded that Radford had been unlawfully killed, and said that Collins’ release from prison “was contrary to the national Home Detention Curfew Policy Framework, because he was, at the material time, awaiting the resolution of an Independent Prison Adjudication, dated 13 April 2019.
“A decision to downgrade the level of adjudication from independent to internal, made by three Governors on 15 April 2019, not including the original decision-making Governor, had no basis in prison policy or procedure, and was driven by a desire to circumvent the terms of postponement set out within the Home Detention Curfew policy framework, in order to release Collins from custody on 18 April 2019, rather than post-29 April 2019, when the Independent Adjudication was due to be heard.
“This decision provided Collins with the opportunity to bring about the death of Mr Radford. . . But for the decision to release Collins on Home Dentention Curfew, Mr Radford would not have died when he did and in the manner he did.”
She went on to say that “at the time of Collins’ release from prison, he was considered by prison staff to pose a risk of causing harm to others, such that he could not be safely managed on the general residential block, and instead had been detained in the segregation unit since 29 March 2019. While in the segregation unit, he had continued to engage in behaviour that placed others at risk of harm, including fire setting and assault.”
In yesterday’s Parliamentary debate, Anderson said: “Terry’s family . . . think it is unacceptable. I think that is putting it mildly; it is actually criminal. They are unable to find out the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings of the prison governors concerned; had the proceedings taken place in a criminal court, they probably would have known by now.
“They attended the inquest every single day and found out the names of the people responsible for letting Collins out of prison. They saw the faces of the governors and watched them as they told untruths throughout the process, but the coroner knew the truth and got to the bottom of it. It is all now in the public domain and accessible to everyone, but the family are still not allowed to know what happened to the people who let Collins out of prison. That is wrong.
“Terry’s family think that, as usual, the wrongdoers are protected and innocent people are left with no closure. They are doing their very best to move on, but they cannot move on because they want to know what has happened to the people who were ultimately responsible for the release of Gavin Collins, and then for their father’s – Terry’s – death.
“They think, and I agree with them, that the governors should have faced a criminal court for their actions, not just disciplinary proceedings. They do not understand why no one within the justice system wanted to take this further.”
Jim Shannon, the DUP MP for Strangford, asked “How could a man who could not be kept under control in prison have been expected to abide by curfew obligations once released?”
He said that Anderson had “clearly outlined the attitude of the man in prison, what he did, his threats to staff and his destruction of property. The ordinary person would say that he could not understand why this man was ever released, and yet because legislation or guidance did not directly say this, unfortunately, Terance Radford died.”
Shadow Justice Minister Ruth Cadbury, the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth, said: “Cases such as this have shaken our constituents’ faith in the justice system, and no more so than that of Terance Radford’s family and friends. According to reports, the driver had assaulted prison officers, threatened to kill an officer and set two fires to the prison. That is not an isolated case. . .
“Too often we have seen individuals released from prison without proper risk assessments and without different services talking to each other. We have seen three serious case reviews where individuals were released after incorrect or insufficient risk assessments, sometimes by staff with too little experience, and then the offender went on to commit a serious further offence.
“We might ask why our justice system is in this state. For 14 years, we have seen a crisis in our criminal justice system – crises in our courts, our prisons and our probation sector. The loss of experienced staff and a high turnover in the staffing of prisons and the probation service means a crisis in which ever-bigger gaps are forming – gaps that create more victims.”
The Prisons Minister, Edward Argar, admitted that “the process in Collins’s case was clearly found to have fallen short of what was expected and what people had a right to expect”, and said that “the risk management planning was undertaken without all the relevant information being obtained. That included information about the mental health of Mr Collins at the time.”
While expressing regret that he was not able to provide information about the disciplinary process that had taken place after Radford’s death, he said: “I am sure that the process and decisions in this case have been looked to very carefully by senior officials.” In January 2020, Collins – then aged 39 – was found not guilty of murdering Terry Radford but was convicted of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. He was also found guilty of two counts of burglary, two of aggravated vehicle taking and one of attempted robbery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court and must serve a minimum tariff of 14 years.
