Smash-and-grab robber joined gang in £200,000 crime spree while on day release from prison
Get the full story here: Daily Telegraph, 14 March 2016, link.
A judge has been accused of leniency after a smash-and-grab robber who carried out security van heists while on day release was given a shorter sentence than his fellow gang members.
Charles Durkin, 25, was serving an eight-year sentence for robbing a Kensington jewellers, but was allowed out of Ford Open prison on the pretext of “maintaining family ties”. […]
Peter Cuthbertson, Director of the Centre for Crime Prevention, described the sentence as “pathetic”.
“Cases like this illustrate the massive overuse of open prisons to include hardened criminals,” he said.
Get the full story here: Daily Telegraph, 14 March 2016, link.