Out of Jail and on the Streets

This programme contains some strong language and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

There are 8,000 convicted criminals

who, despite having committed serious crimes, are currently living free among us.

They have been let out in the hope they won't return to crime.

-Do we always have kidnap cases, Pippa?

-The hostage-taking?

-Yeah, with a gun and stuff.

-Yeah.

-Oh, there is one coming our way, is there?

-Lown, Lown.

Working behind the scenes are the men and women who place themselves

between the criminals and the public, for OUR protection.

My world consists of murderers and rapists and armed robbers.

-Why do you think it's on that licence?

-To protect the public.

I don't think I should be judged like every other predator on the street.

I'm born of angels. Armageddon, you see.

I-I came from the stars.

It is up to probation officers to help reform these criminals,

all the time assessing if they are still safe to be out.

I think he's a bona fide networked-up paedophile, who will resume that.

We work with very extremes of human behaviour,

the most dangerous people in society.

It's a high-pressure role, which takes a toll.

Well, they could pick him up from here,

the police could pick him up from here.

If they decide the offenders pose a threat to the public,

they have the power to put them back behind bars.

I don't want to go back to prison, innit? I-I want to change my life.

It's a game of cat and mouse, innit?

They're always trying to catch you, you're always trying to get away.

Today, a convicted kidnapper is being released from Rochester Prison.

David Lown, a 20-year-old with a history of violence,

is being let out on licence after serving half of his sentence.

He will return to Brighton

just 18 months after committing a terrifying crime in the town.

He has been ordered to go straight to

the Surrey And Sussex Probation Service

and report to the officer who will monitor him.

OK, whereabouts are you?

Come straight to this office then, yeah?

OK, bye-bye.

This is David Lown.

His offence is kidnap,

erm, and having an offensive weapon in public

and GBH, erm, Section 20.

September 2010.

David Lown and his co-defendant had been drinking heavily

when they decided to steal more alcohol.

They lured a young man to give them a lift

but instead, kidnapped him with a knife to his throat.

During a two-and-a-half hour ordeal, the victim was stabbed and punched,

while forced to drive around town.

Finally, he was dragged from the car

and brutally beaten by Lown and his accomplice.

He's not in...

Have we discovered what pub Mr Lown is residing in at the moment?

-I think he's phoned Liz.

-Yes.

-He wasn't released until about half ten, he's coming from Rochester.

-OK.

-Probably can't get here by two.

-At least he's been in touch.

The convicted kidnapper's release comes with strict conditions.

He must stay at a hostel and keep to a curfew.

Critically, because his crimes in the past

have followed heavy drinking sessions,

he must not exceed a daily alcohol limit set by the Probation Service.

It's Liz Carter's job to ensure he sticks to his conditions.

If he doesn't, he'll lose his new-found freedom.

This is pretty much exactly what I have to do in prison.

-Mm-hm.

-Pretty much everything's exactly the same.

If you look at this licence,

this is an extension of you being in prison, you're still under sentence.

-Hmm.

-But you've served half of your time in prison

and then you're going to serve half your time in the community,

but still subject to these restrictions.

So you're giving me chances to fail?

I would see that as...

Rather than giving me chances to prove myself?

I would see it more as a supportive measure.

We don't want you to mess this licence up any more than you do.

I know this is the way that you see it, yeah,

but it's not like that.

David, listen, while you're in the hostel, you need to comply

with these restrictions,

-and the drink-driving limit stands.

-Yeah.

Yeah? OK.

What I want you to do now

is make your way along to the approved premises.

-Do you know where that is?

-Hmm.

Don't get run over, will you?

Everybody that comes out of prison says that they nearly get run over.

Yeah, I nearly got run over earlier.

Mind the road.

OK. I'll give them a call now,

-tell them you'll be about 20 minutes, all right?

-Yeah.

Confident? Super-confident?

-Oh... Yeah. No, I think he's all right.

-All right.

He's just a stroppy teenager. But I think, erm...

Had a drink today?

I couldn't smell any... I don't think so, no.

I think he'll struggle to not have a drink.

-I don't think he could go into a pub and have one drink.

-No. He won't last the weekend.

I don't think we'll worry too much about that.

I think he'll really struggle.

I question whether he'll even be able to not have a drink tonight, to be honest.

It's a nice beach, this.

Spot I can relate to, you know?

It's a bit fucked up, innit?

I suppose I'm a bit fucked up as well.

No, I did what I did and...you know,

I've got to make up for it all, innit?

INTERVIEWER: So you know about probation?

Yeah, yeah.

What's that like?

They're always trying to set you up to fail, innit? They want you back inside.

They want you to do your whole sentence inside.

That's why they give you such strict conditions. That's what they do.

People think that once you're out of prison, you've finished your sentence.

It's not like that.

Once you're out of prison it's harder,

because you've got to stay out for the rest of it,

and they give you stupid conditions that they know you're going to fail,

they expect you to fail. That's what they want.

You know? Some people prove them wrong.

David Lown is now one of the 70 serious offenders

in the community, supervised by the Brighton Public Protection Team.

The team monitors the criminals

considered to pose the highest risk to the public.

Linda Kelly is about to see a predatory rapist,

at liberty after leaving prison nine months ago.

His identity is obscured to protect his victim.

I just need to get the right alarm for the right room.

Not that I think we'll need it but, um, it's protocol, so...

< Linda?

-Hello?

-He's here.

-Thank you.

A condition of his release is to disclose to her any developing relationships.

Linda will want any new girlfriend to be warned of his past crime.

She has received information that he's been seen out with a woman.

So, in a bit more of a relationship with ... ?

Hmm...

Yeah. I don't know.

-Here's the thing.

-I'm not with her, though.

-OK.

So that's just...you know?

I would suggest that if you're walking down the road

at half past ten at night-ish, with your arms around somebody,

that's sort of a bit more of a relationship than,

"I'm just taking her out."

And I can see that you're... by your body language

and by your lack of eye contact, which is usually very good,

that you're listening to me, but you're closing off.

-No, I just know where it's going.

-OK.

So you tell me, what do you think needs to happen

in terms of your relationship at the minute?

What do you think she needs to know about you?

-I don't... Not a lot, really, I don't think, at the minute.

-OK.

Because I made it blatantly clear...

Not blatantly clear, but I said to her, you know,

"I'm not looking to get into any relationship of any sort."

-What, long-term relationship?

-No, any relationship at all.

-OK.

So are you in a sexual relationship with her at the moment?

-We had a cuddle and that on the bed. But nothing...

-OK, OK.

-No.

-Well, that's not a sexual relationship, is it?

-No.

-It's an intimate relationship.

-Quite.

OK, all right.

It worries me that he's having a relationship and he said,

"We've cuddled on the bed."

I suspect they've had sex.

And what concerns me is that if they go out drinking,

that sexual encounter becomes more controlling

than it does a consensual act,

and so the partner, the recipient of the sex, if you like,

needs to be aware that it can trip over.

He committed a violent rape,

which had significant impact on his victim.

Probation officers can enforce conditions of release.

They can limit who offenders see and where they go.

But they can't follow them 24 hours a day.

There are some criminals in Brighton

who are particularly troubling to the Public Protection Team.

-..Focuses solely on the genitalia.

-It would be a five.

-And that's a prohibited image.

-Well, that's not... That's the prohibited one.

Yeah, that is prohibited as well, the animal one.

-No, this is... No, that's extreme.

-On here, it's not.

"The performance by a child of an act of..."

Yeah, it's not by a child. Look, it's an adult...with a dog.

And that's extreme.

To keep the public safe, they have to probe, on our behalf,

the darkest secrets of society.

One of the things that people perhaps don't appreciate

about being a probation officer,

particularly in a public protection team,

is you're dealing with this every single day.

Someone is talking to you about committing, or you're reading about

some of the most depraved, horrific things that you could ever imagine.

There's things I've seen in this job and read in this job,

you couldn't... You just couldn't imagine that anyone could do it.

You know, it's just never come into my thought reckoning.

-Oh...

-Oh, yeah.

No, that's sick.

And I now accept that I struggle quite hard

with some of the child abusers that we have.

I will need to have a chat with some colleagues

and some friends and, actually, that's quite a good way, um,

to leave that behind, before going home to my children.

30 paedophiles are currently being supervised in the community

by the team.

One particular offender is a real cause for concern.

I'm making sure I don't sort of get too close to early teens...

..especially the opposite sex.

Oh, there's a family over there with young children.

Obviously, I wouldn't entertain going over there,

I would stay over this side.

It's always about what other people might be thinking.

It's the worst thing since sliced bread was invented.

It's one of those things that's always in the media

and people are always aware of it.

We're worse than witches.

HE LAUGHS

There's a few areas of offending that do cross all boundaries.

Drink-driving is one of them.

Sex offending - anyone, any class, any race, any age.

The ones that shock you are the very, very normal...

VERY, VERY normal-looking people who have committed sexual offences.

I do come here because I know there aren't going to be any kids here,

especially the younger teenagers.

They don't want to know this sort of thing.

It's industry, it's docks.

It's difficult not to be sat in a public place,

watching the world go by, going, "Paedophile, paedophile, paedophile,"

because actually, anybody can be a paedophile.

This offender has been out of prison for two months.

He was sentenced to ten years

and released on licence after serving six.

He was convicted of 11 counts of rape

of a female under the age of 16.

He's got extremely strong licence conditions,

which is, he is not allowed to go anywhere where children go,

he's not allowed to loiter or stand still

when passing where children are,

because any accusation that comes his way,

that he's hanging around somewhere,

or spending too long somewhere, or somebody looks at him funny and goes,

"What's that old man over there looking at?"

If that is reported, he's toast,

because he will be instantly recalled.

It's a very strong licence condition.

I can see a swing park and children's play area,

so I would not even use the cafe down there, because there's a cafe,

because it's slap-bang in the middle of a children's area.

So I'm very conscious, keeping in mind my conditions at all times.

If I stood here too long, I'd be in breach.

-INTERVIEWER: Why's that?

-Because I'm loitering.

I'd be straight back inside, back into prison.

They have CCTV up there, you never know who's watching. Big Brother.

So, because of the consequences,

I would have to sort of move on quite quickly now.

It's for my own protection, as well as everybody else's.

The offender was discovered during a police operation targeting a suspected paedophile ring.

He was seen meeting them on Brighton Pier, with a young girl at his side.

Police seized his phone

and found images of him having sex with the girl.

He had been abusing her for three years, starting when she was 11.

I wonder how he would have got access to that paedophile ring.

The buying and selling of mobile phones on eBay.

He bought himself mobile phones all the time,

and he took pictures of himself abusing her on phones.

And I don't think he ever downloaded it onto a computer.

He sold the phones to people.

No wonder he's not giving anything away, then.

-That's what

-I

-think he was up to.

He was found with one phone with pictures on of him having sex.

And the phone that they got him with, that had the pictures on,

was a brand-new phone that he'd only had a couple of weeks.

So, where's all the other pictures on the other phones gone?

I suspect he was flogging them off to other paedophiles, as well.

Worrying, innit?

The paedophile has always denied he was part of a ring

and trading indecent images.

But Rick is concerned that he's in denial about the serious harm he has done to his victim.

He will use language and semantics

to make it sound not as bad as it was.

He will talk about having an affair with ... which, obviously, is patently ludicrous,

as she was 11 years old at the time he started abusing her,

and he'd groomed her up for a few years before that.

He would talk about falling in love with ...

I mean...as in a relationship way,

which, again, for a man at the time in his 50s,

with his barely pubescent victim, is ludicrous.

Right, go and see...

Rick is worried that if the paedophile continues to minimise the abuse of his victim,

he remains a serious risk to the public.

He wants to use today's session to test his hunch.

-She was forever coming round to mine...

-Yep.

-..with head lice...

-Oh, right.

-..which she'd picked up from school...

-Yeah, yeah.

So I'd, you know, I'd go out and buy the stuff

-and do... And do myself as well.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-You can pick them up yourself.

-That's right.

And I mean, that's when I started to feel a little bit...

sexually attracted towards her.

OK.

Cos she used to strip to the waist. Although she hadn't developed...

-She's an 11-year-old-girl.

-That's right.

Absolutely. Just fast-forwarding things a little bit.

That's the early attraction and then that went through a period

where obviously you became more and more physical and, I guess,

-the feelings that you were pushing to the back came to the front.

-Came to the front, yeah.

So, at that point, did you feel uneasy about it?

-Yeah, I did feel uneasy.

-How did you deal with that?

Did it become easier once you got into that behaviour?

It did become easier, because it became habitual.

-She wasn't saying anything untoward to me.

-Mm-hm.

And she wasn't saying anything untoward to anybody else.

So, it got easier and I obviously thought...you know,

I'm getting gratification out of this, and she seems to be OK.

My problem is that you have, from what you've told me yourself,

a massive ability to make something that is wrong, right.

Part of what I'm trying to do with you is get you to recognise that,

because the last thing I want is for anything like that to happen again.

You have the ability to do it, a lot of people don't.

-Yeah.

-You have the propensity to do something you know to be wrong

and to make it OK to do that.

-Mm.

-That's quite... Essentially, from my point of view,

that's quite dangerous. Can you understand why I might think that?

-I understand that, yeah.

-Do you think that's quite dangerous?

-Well, I know I won't.

-Mm-hm.

-Ever again.

Rick knows that his time is running out.

Because the man was sentenced before new rules were introduced,

his restrictions on where he can go will end

when his licence ends in six months' time.

After that, the probation service will be powerless to intervene.

I find it worrying.

He's still a young man. You know, if his health remains,

he's got a good 20 years and certainly the next ten,

he's still young enough to go out, form new relationships,

get a new woman.

Invariably, as he says,

they will probably have children and grandchildren.

You know, that's scary to me.

If I hear that my daughter is going out

to clubs in the area that I work,

and particularly if I know there's been a release of a,

you know, a reasonably high-profile sex offender, you know,

let's cut to the chase here,

what I find myself doing is,

I'll be incredibly anxious

and I'll ring her up and I'll ask her where she's going

and she'll have to do all of those checks

that she might have had to do when she was 16,

and she's now older than 16.

I can't help that and I try to get over that and I can't,

because that's my, you know... I need that for myself.

Linda's first appointment of the day

is her weekly supervision session with the rapist.

She wants to hear

whether he's disclosed his crime to his unsuspecting girlfriend.

-I mean, this is something I don't agree with.

-I know.

On the licence conditions and all that malark,

I don't agree with that at all, I think that...

Why do you think it's on that licence?

-To protect the public.

-OK.

But I've had no problems with anything like that at all.

I mean, mine was, like, a one-off sort of crime.

My crime was way, way out of what my crime usually is

and I didn't know her, so it's not like I've, you know,

I've done anything to anyone I know.

That was just some random, drugged-up, alcohol-fuelled night,

where everything just seemed to just turn my whole life around,

and it's just not...

I don't think I should be judged like every other predator on the street.

2007, a Saturday night.

The man was thrown out of a nightclub,

high on cocaine and ketamine.

He went to the house of a casual lover in search of sex,

but found nobody in.

It was then that he came across the victim in the street.

As I recall, he asked her for a light for his cigarette

and she either acknowledged him or just continued walking.

She got quite some distance away from him

and he then chased after her.

He grabbed her, pushed her up against a van, said,

"You're going to do what I tell you.

"Don't scream, I've got a knife in my pocket and I'll slash your face."

Demanded that she perform oral sex on him.

She refused. He then held her

and raped her.

He then walked away from her and apparently,

with his head in his hands, said, "What have I done?"

And he was arrested a short while after that.

The victim lost her job,

her marriage broke down and, in essence, her life collapsed.

How do you pick yourself up from that?

If you look at how you are going to help people move forward,

the basic thing that you have to have is an empathy.

And that's not just an empathy for the offender,

that's got to be an empathy for people in general.

And one of the reasons I came into this job,

I was working in a women's refuge

and I was working with women who'd been assaulted and abused

and I'm thinking, "Hang on here, this isn't quite right.

"Why aren't we working with the people that are doing the abusing?

"Why can't we actually do some work to change that thinking?"

And if I can make an impact on that,

that's got to ensure

that there's going to be less potential victims in the future.

And that's good enough for me.

In their next session, Linda will demand evidence

the rapist has stuck to his licence,

by revealing to his new girlfriend his past.

If he doesn't, he faces going back to prison.

It's Monday morning and after his first weekend of freedom,

kidnapper David Lown has to report to his probation officer.

First email.

Glasses would help.

Liz is worried about his history of offending while drunk.

The results of the weekend's breathalyser tests have been

recorded by his hostel.

Ah. So Saturday night, he blew over, 0.39.

Sunday night, he blew 0.65.

Bottom line is that he is drinking.

He's drunk something every day that he's been out

and I just looked at his OASys and that's exactly what it says,

that before he went into custody, he was drinking on a daily basis.

So he's just resumed exactly what he was doing before.

-What's the limit?

-35.

He blew 39 on Saturday and on Sunday, 65.

-That's nearly double.

-Mm.

And appeared anxious about being recalled.

A case of mine blew over and he had specific, "Not touch anything,"

and he got a director's warning, but not a recall.

I'll do a director's warning.

He's coming in at half past ten and I'll...

-Shot across the barrier, he does it again, he's recalled.

-Absolutely.

I'm surprised he lasted the weekend, to be honest.

This is a warning, a serious warning,

about his behaviour that's telling him...you know,

you're getting really near to being recalled to prison.

Are you going to see him at 10.30? How's that going to go?

I would imagine he's not going to be very pleased at getting

a director's warning.

I can imagine that he'll be trying to tell me that

he didn't drink that much and there's something wrong

with the test and that, that kind of...

However, it's irrelevant to me how much he's had to drink,

how much he thinks he'd had to drink.

The evidence is that he blew nearly twice the limit,

so that's enough for me.

-I'm here to see Liz.

-OK, I'll give her a call.

David, hiya.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah.

I'm concerned that you've come out of prison

and on your day of release, and the following two days,

-you've been drinking alcohol.

-Yeah, it's the weekend, innit?

This isn't... This isn't about me

just telling you what to do, David, it's a decision you have to make.

I have no powers to stop you going and drinking.

I'm just saying, I swear their breathalyser is a little bit dodgy.

OK. Well, it's not.

What I'm going to do, what I'm going to do now,

to deal with your blowing over on two occasions,

is issue you with a director's warning.

Now, the next stage after that is recall.

-I'm not... I'm not really looking to drink today.

-OK.

I told the hostel, like...

I'm looking not to drink for the rest of the week,

-so that I can prove that I can, do you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

I'll expect to see all negative alcohol results, yeah,

between now and Thursday.

Yeah, well...

And then Friday and Saturday, possibly a small amount.

-Yeah.

-Yeah? OK. Cool.

You can go.

-See you later.

-Take care, yep?

-I will.

And I'll see you next week. Cheerio.

The whole point of someone having a licence

with conditions that they have to comply with,

is because they've committed a serious offence.

So, we're not talking shoplifting,

these are people who've committed serious offences,

where other people have been hurt.

I'm not going to take that risk.

You know, my name's on the bottom of all these pieces of paper.

When you're messing around with probation,

it's a game of cat and mouse, innit?

They're always trying to catch you, you're always trying to get away.

I know I kind of got away with it, really.

If you do an offence when you're drunk, or if you're on drugs,

straight away, whether it was linked to the offence or not,

they'll say, "Oh, because you was drunk, it's linked to the offence."

It's nothing like that.

Each situation's different, innit? Hello.

INTERVIEWER: And in your case?

It wasn't linked to the offence.

But I don't... I don't drink to do the offences.

I drink because I'm going to do the offences.

It's confusing, but...

Like, if you're going to do a crime, you don't want to have...

You don't want to feel bad about it afterwards.

Do you know what I mean?

You don't want to feel any remorse or nothing, really.

Like, I know it's kind of a cold way to look at it, but...you know,

I'd rather... I'd rather, like, not feel bad about what I've done.

I don't want to think about what I've done.

I've done some bad things, you know.

It's not only violent criminals and sex offenders

who must be closely monitored.

170,000 offenders are currently on probation in England and Wales.

Every person sentenced to more than a year,

or given a supervision requirement, is allocated a probation officer.

Roger Robinson was sentenced to a restraining order

after an assault on his mother.

He is prohibited from any contact with her for six months.

I was drunk and I was demanding more money for alcohol,

cos I wanted another drink

and Mother didn't have the money

and...angry, I was breaking stuff

and generally being an arsehole, being abusive.

I cut my arm and then smeared it on my mother,

because I wanted her to feel my pain. That here was my blood, my...

Call me crazy, but I thought my blood was sort of, erm...

..sacrosanct, if you can see what I mean.

Can you let Judith know. He's got something today, has he? No? Can you let Judith know

that Vicky and I are going to do a home visit on Roger Robinson.

So, we'll ring before we're going in and then we'll ring when we come.

Hopefully should be back by 12.30.

Yep, no worries, that's fine.

Thanks, darling.

Robinson is required to report in person to his probation officer,

Vicky Brown, but today, he's called in to cancel his appointment.

With a history of mental illness, he can become violent,

so Vicky decides to visit him at home.

He's not done anything now, but the way he was speaking

on the phone, I'm, you know, really concerned about his wellbeing.

I mean, he's got schizophrenia and a personality disorder.

-What's his risk? Is it medium?

-Medium, yeah.

Roger?

There are four months left to run on Robinson's order.

Vicky will be able to see out his supervision

before she goes on maternity leave.

What's going on, Roger?

I've been all right, but I've been hearing, erm...

I've... I've been hearing bad voices and that.

-Right.

-And there's, erm...

Oh, I...

Now, the other thing I do want to ask you is,

have you been hurting yourself recently?

A little bit, yeah.

-Are the voices telling you to do that?

-Yeah. Yeah, a little bit.

-They're telling you to hurt yourself?

-Yeah, but I ignore them.

-What do they tell you to do?

-They just say... Just saying,

you're atoning for my sins sort of thing.

It's only cigarette burns on my thigh.

See, I hide it, you see. I'm... I'm j-just burning now,

-just, just burning.

-OK. When was the last time you cut yourself?

Ages ago now. Well, last time, when I was in prison, yeah.

But I think it's really, really important that

you're seen by the mental health team, because they're specialists

in dealing with what you're going through at the moment.

The Offender Management Team in Chichester

supervises over 400 convicted criminals

serving their time in the community.

These are people released on licence,

on a suspended sentence, or on a community order

with supervision requirement.

-Hello, darling.

-How are you?

Please tell me how many times you've done each of the following -

-slapped her on the face.

-Probably once.

Threw things at her, or about the room.

-Yeah, five.

-Five or more? OK.

I couldn't promise if I was to see him, I wouldn't run across the road

and clump him. I couldn't promise that.

The criminals who come through these doors are not the most serious,

but they are the most likely to reoffend.

You sit down anywhere you like.

They're familiar faces to the probation service and the courts.

If they're before the courts again,

it's not anyone's failing, really, but their own.

But yet there are all those issues there, you still want to help

that person, so you do feel quite welfare-y sometimes.

I think that'd be best for everybody...

-That's quite sensible, yeah.

-..and the children.

-Yeah.

Otherwise, the next time, I might be doing four years in prison.

It's a difficult balance, isn't it?

You're an enforcer, but you're also helping them, so...

When Vicky's offender Roger Robinson

does not take his medicine, he becomes dangerous.

He has called her in a desperate state.

He is presenting an increased risk to the public

and his mental health really seems to have deteriorated to such a degree

that I was so concerned,

I felt I had to come out and see him quite urgently.

And he really, really needs access to his medication.

Vicky has booked an emergency appointment with his doctor

to get some drugs.

Oh. Hi, Roger. How you doing?

Not great, huh?

-Shall we come in, quickly?

-Come in.

See, erm...the angels are saying that, erm... They're...

They're actually telling me I shouldn't let you in here...

-Are they?

-..to be honest with you.

All right, Roger, how about this?

I won't come in, yeah? I'll... I'll wait outside.

You go and put your trousers on

and we'll get down to the doctor's surgery,

because I've made you that doctor's appointment.

I'm born of angels, son of Magellan, you see.

I-I came from the stars.

Roger, you go and put your...

I look after babies.

-Roger. Roger, listen to me.

-And that one.

Roger, listen to me, you go and put your trousers on

and I'll meet you downstairs.

Two minutes, cos we must make this appointment, yeah?

-All right, OK.

-OK?

All right? It's all right, deep breath.

Roger.

You all right? You're all right. You're doing well, come on.

You all right? Come on, Roger. Come on.

Most of them, they take the piss out of me.

Well, don't listen to them, Roger. Listen to my voice, OK?

If we can get round that corner and get into the centre,

you can get your meds, yeah?

That's what we've come to do, yeah?

-All right.

-No, no, I'm not going there.

-Come on.

Come on, then. Do you want it, or do you want me to carry it?

-I'll carry it.

-Yep.

Are you coming in then?

Well, how do you feel about me coming in?

-It's fine by me.

-Let's go...

And you feel safe, of course.

Of course. Let's go in then and see you for a few minutes.

I'd never harm you, darling.

Come on. It's all right.

If Vicky can't get Robinson to take his medication,

his behaviour could deteriorate and he could become violent.

Any further offences will land him back before the courts,

or in prison again, to join the 70% of offenders in custody

who suffer mental health disorders.

There you are, fresh water.

What is it, Roger?

They're telling me not to take the pills. I'm evil.

Who's telling you that?

They are.

Roger, you recognise these voices are evil, don't you?

ROGER SOBS

Can you hear my voice, Roger?

Roger?

Roger, do you trust me?

-Of course I do.

-OK. Do you understand that

I only have your best interests at heart?

Yeah? Do you believe that?

-Yeah, of course I do, darling.

-Right, OK.

-They're just being nasty.

-Right, then...

And I've a few times just said to them, "Piss off".

Yeah, you've had a really tiring day,

so you listen to my voice, rather than them.

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.

You don't have anything to apologise for, Roger,

but just take the medication.

Right, anti-depressants.

Two of those?

Yeah.

Go for it.

-Do you want some tissue?

-I've got some here, lovey.

-Oh, right, OK.

-It's all right, darling. Don't worry about me.

You look after yourself, because you...

you're holding a little bump.

Bless!

Sorry, I shouldn't be so personal, but I just...

It's all right.

I want a family. I want, I want...

I've got a hell of a lot of love to give.

I want babies, I want children.

I'm a sad, old, lonely, fucking bastard, basically.

I'm a sad old git that needs shooting.

That's all it is. That's all it is.

No-one else is saying that, Roger.

You know, I just...

I need company and companionship and...

I know. We all need that, Roger, I know.

OK, so don't think about it.

I'm going to miss you.

Don't think about that yet.

I'm going to miss you, darling, in the nicest possible way.

I'm not being ro... You know what I mean.

-I know, I know.

-I'm going to miss you. You're lovely.

Well, don't think about it yet,

because we've got a couple of months left, OK?

So take it easy, have a good night's sleep, all right?

And I'll give you a ring tomorrow.

-All right, then.

-Yeah?

Don't worry about seeing me out, and I'll see you tomorrow.

-Bye, Mr or Mrs Bump!

-Bye-bye.

-See you later.

-Bye.

SHE SIGHS AND LAUGHS

Just shattered.

It's just totally, um...

I felt, at times in that session

like I was going to almost cry,

because I feel the limitations of what I can do in this role.

It's really hard.

And I'm a very tactile, warm person,

but I can't be too far that way, of course, in this job.

You know, if it's someone,

you know, just an acquaintance

when I'm out of my working capacity,

my want would be to sort of reach out and put my arms around the person,

comfort them. I can't do any of that

and, of course, that's totally right and appropriate.

But it is hard to continue that professional stance

but also be encouraging and help someone.

But, yeah, the people that I work with just do...

They do stay with me.

It's just five days since kidnapper David Lown

was released from prison,

and he's already on a final warning for excessive drinking.

Liz has heard from his hostel that he has failed a breathalyser test

and has ordered him in to see her.

How annoying!

OK.

He must convince her that, despite the test result,

he has changed and is serious about avoiding alcohol.

I promise you, yeah, that I've been worrying all night

and I promised myself

I'm not even going to drink for the rest of the week.

Like, a whole week, nothing. I'm telling you.

To be honest, David, you said all this to me on Monday.

I know, but I just want to prove...

Look, last night I realised how much this really means to me.

I don't know. It was all I've been thinking about.

Why do you think I...?

All I can think about is getting recalled now and it's just...

it's worrying me and I haven't been able to sleep at night.

What worries you about being recalled?

I just don't want to go back to prison, innit?

I want to change my life.

That's what I've been looking to do when I come out now,

and...do you know what I mean?

But you haven't done anything different.

How can you change if you don't actively...

I have been doing things differently.

What have you done differently?

I can't explain exactly what I mean, but it's just hit me and...

The thing is, David, to be honest, your promises,

you know, I've heard it all before.

Look, I swear. I swear on my mum's life.

OK, what I want you to do now, I need to go and discuss this.

My thoughts are that I have to take action on this.

-That I can't ignore it.

-You're going to recall me?

I need to go and discuss it with my manager.

I want you to go back to the hostel

and I will contact you at the hostel and tell you what's happening.

Listen, please.

Look, I swear to God. Please, just...

I understand you haven't got much to go on,

for believing me and that, apart from Monday.

I understand that.

Are you going to go back there now?

I want you to go back there now.

I'll ring hostel staff, tell them that you're on your way, yeah?

And then they can give me a call when you get there.

OK.

Yep, OK, thanks, David.

I appreciate you coming in and talking to me.

You go straight back, yeah?

I'll give them a call and tell them that you're on your way, yeah?

For Liz and her colleagues,

deciding to send someone back to prison is all too common.

One in eight serious offenders released during their sentence

is recalled for breaching their licence.

Stand up on there for us.

'I can't change my mind. Really, even if I wanted to,

'because if I ignored that today and didn't take any action,'

I would have given him the message that, actually,

it's OK to drink,

and he went out tonight and he drank

and he committed an offence and somebody got hurt.

Quite rightly so,

I would have a lot of explaining to do.

Nige, can you take one down for me?

You want to come with me?

'This is to protect the public.'

If he's going to drink, he can't be in the community.

'It is about risk, but I am human as well,'

so I do think about him, and I do... I...

I feel for him.

I don't feel sorry for him, but I do feel for him.

The responsibility of both protecting the public

and managing the offender's welfare can be a difficult balance.

Is Vicky around, or has she disappeared?

There has been a phone call

into the Chichester office from Roger Robinson.

He is concerned about his relationship

with his probation officer.

I phoned up probation and said,

"Could I have another probation officer, please,

"because I've got, erm...

"..inappropriate feelings for my probation officer,"

and I asked for another one.

You know, it's only cos...

It's only cos I'm bloody lonely, really,

and she's showing me... Not affection, but she's shown,

well, she has shown affection, in a professional way.

It's my nature, as well, that wants to help and wants to intervene,

and I do invest time and my own emotion into my cases.

I can't help that, that's just the person that I am.

I sort of question what I've done

and whether I've done more harm than good, actually.

I actually phoned up the police the other day as well,

and asked for my community sentence to be extended.

And do you know, the mad thing is,

I even considered committing another minor crime,

so I'd get put on probation.

Just a fleeting, mad thought, but...

Nah, I won't do that. I'm not a plonker.

Vicky's manager wants to discuss Robinson's call

and the effect it might have on his future supervision.

He apparently rang on Friday,

specifically requesting a different officer.

So how did that feel, hearing that?

Well, it did make me question how I've been dealing with him.

You know, has he completely misconstrued my intervention

and my help to mean something else.

And I think it's been the absence of another service or agency

intervening or giving him some assistance,

that has meant I've gone extra with Roger. I've gone further.

-OK.

-But I didn't want him to be taken off me,

or someone else supervise him. I wanted to stick with him,

especially seeing as his order was so nearing the end anyway.

And, actually, his order ends two days before I leave.

-Yeah.

-And it seemed to make sense for me to sort of stick with it

and maybe put some other measures in place and keep going with him.

I think that's right.

Linda's last session with the rapist

left her unsettled about whether it's safe for him to be at liberty.

She has decided that a failure to reveal his offence

to his new girlfriend makes him a danger to the public.

One thing's for sure,

you never really know what you're going to walk into

and what might have happened overnight.

Each day brings a new challenge.

You have to be on your game,

because the consequences if you're not can be enormous.

Linda arrives to news that the rapist is in police custody.

Right. So he said... Can I just clarify?

So he said that...when you picked up the, erm...

When you found the white powder on him,

he said it was either going to be ketamine or amphetamine?

SHE SIGHS

The police were called to a disturbance

outside his ex-girlfriend's house at two in the morning.

When they stopped him, they found he was in possession of cocaine.

Everything that he did on this night,

even though it's still an allegation at this stage,

everything he did mirrors what happened on the night of his offence.

-What was he thinking, for goodness...?

-He wasn't, was he?

He wasn't thinking, was he? No, he wasn't.

-That's one of his problems.

-It is, yeah.

I could really have done without this today.

Because the rapist's actions suggest he is still a danger,

Linda has no option but to recall him to prison.

This is his second recall now, on licence.

I think it's going to be hard to persuade anyone now

to trust him to come out again on another licence period.

He's probably looking at spending the rest of his sentence

now in custody, which, again, gives you some problems.

What happens when he comes out, under no supervision?

He's not a guy, with all the support we've thrown in at him,

that seems to be able to manage particularly well in the community.

It's not really a problem solved, is it?

It's a problem parked, for the moment.

Still, there we go, we work in a system and that's how it is.

With only a few weeks before the start of her maternity leave,

Vicky sets up an appointment for Roger Robinson

at the mental health charity, MIND.

She wants to help prepare him for life after probation.

Hi, are you, Carolynn? Hi. Lovely to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hi, Roger, how are you doing?

-I'm all right. Hello.

-Good to see you.

-It sounds good, doesn't it?

-It is good, yeah.

It does, it sounds like there's loads of opportunities and stuff.

Yeah, I go for walks with them on a Sunday and that.

Yeah. So medication-wise, have you...

Since I last saw you, you've been taking it?

I'm taking it and I've got my new batch yesterday,

so I've got my meds.

No voices, no voices. I've got a clearer head, actually.

How does that feel?

Weird, strangely enough.

But it's all right, it's all right.

-I suppose we can leave it there, Roger, really.

-Right.

As long as you're happy. If there's anything else you want to talk about?

Just wanted to say, thank you very much

-for all your help over the six months.

-That's my pleasure.

I put a good word in for you at head office.

I phoned them the other week, so...

SHE LAUGHS Right, thanks!

I told them you're awesome.

I don't know anything about that, Roger, but thanks!

Yeah, I phoned them, so...

You know, it's right to say that he's done it himself.

I've helped him along the way, and, you know,

maybe my level of intervention could raise some criticism.

People could ask questions about the remit of my role.

Should I have been so involved?

Should I have that kind of welfare approach to him?

But seeing him today, I have no doubt that what I did

and how I approached the order was the right way to go about things.

It's not too bad, actually. Not too bad at all.

'You have to, you know, build up a relationship,

'learn about them, learn how they will respond

'and what would work best for them

'while, of course, taking into account

'your need to monitor and manage their risk.

'But in doing so, I think I've established the right way

'and the right course of action with Roger

'and managed to safeguard his mother a bit.'

So I'm going to put it out there

and say I'm feeling positive about Roger,

and optimistic about his future.

No, no, no, no!

It's one month after Linda requested the rapist's recall to prison.

Her supervision of him continues,

even though he's now safely behind bars.

Her recommendation to the parole board could make all the difference.

He could spend the rest of his sentence locked up,

with no chance of parole.

I've been caught with cocaine, yeah? I've been caught with cocaine.

That is the only thing I've done wrong,

in one sense, of the actual charge, kind of thing.

Other than that, I just went round someone's house

to get my stuff back.

What is so wrong about that?

I should never have gone there intoxicated.

That's what I done wrong. I was intoxicated.

You should never try and sort something out

when your mind is altered by anything, do you know what I mean?

But other than that... All right, that's what I done wrong.

The fact I went round there with the wrong sort of mindset.

I don't come from the life that all you lot come from.

You expect me to come out and be this angel...

Not you, I'm not saying that.

I'm saying the whole service expects you to come out and be this angel.

No-one expects you to be an angel.

But because you have committed a very serious offence,

you have additional responsibilities

to evidence that you can manage yourself,

as much as you can be monitored managing those risks.

-I wasn't doing anything wrong.

-OK.

I wasn't. What was I doing wrong? I didn't do nothing wrong.

All right, there was things that I could have done better.

-Yeah.

-But it wasn't like they were so wrong and that,

do you know what I mean? Regardless...

I know from your perception and everyone else's perception,

I'm a fucking monster, I'm this, that, the other,

and I'm going to go and do this, and do that,

cos that's how I'm looked upon.

However, it's all nonsense.

Ain't nothing like that's going to ever happen.

There's worse people.

-The public don't need protecting from me at all.

-OK.

There's worse people out there now that shouldn't be out there.

OK, I don't doubt that that's the case.

But I'm not managing those people.

I'm managing you and I'm responsible for your risk management.

And, actually there's an element whereby,

if I think about it entirely selfishly, you're here,

I know you're safe, I know everyone else is safe,

and I haven't got to worry about you in any way, shape or form.

That's what I'm saying,

that's the good thing about whether I just do the whole lot,

then I'd get out. I ain't got all this.

OK, so you'll still be monitored if you come out at the end.

Not really, not really.

Not with no licence.

It's best not to keep going round in circles.

Maybe we just need to leave it there for the time being.

INTERVIEWER: So what would happen

if you were to serve your whole licence in prison?

I would get out with no licence, which means...

it's like a double-edged sword.

I can look at it like I'll be sweet,

but at the same time, they ain't going to be able to supervise me.

You know, the public should be really encouraged

that we can respond so quickly

and remove a potentially dangerous individual

from the community, so that the community is protected.

Nearly half of all offenders who leave prison reoffend within a year.

But they are more likely to offend if they are not under supervision.

There are 170,000 criminals on probation

and 10,000 probation officers to monitor them.

-Does he just have to return now?

-He does, yeah, exactly.

He just has to go back?

So if they did an emergency recall within two hours,

that's possible?

Well, they could pick him up from here.

The police could pick him up from here.

'That's the bit that the public don't know

'that I think they should know.'

That we do work to protect them,

and there's a lot of us that do it.

And most of the time it works.

They only hear about it when it goes wrong.

And then I think, "Well, we must be doing a worthwhile job,"

because it doesn't go wrong that often.

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