Criminal bragged to 200,000 TikTok followers after ‘cutting off ankle tag’

Violent criminals have been released without tags due to ‘chaos’ in the system used to track offenders, an investigation has revealed.

One criminal reportedly removed her tag to go on holiday, bragging about it to her almost 200,000 TikTok followers.

Officers visited the repeat offender’s address three times to fix her tag after she was suspected of tampering with it, but she was out each time.

She later posted a TikTok video showing her downing drinks during a trip abroad, allegedly in breach of a court order not to consume alcohol.

The woman, who was not named by Channel 4’s Dispatches, claimed her tag had accidentally come off, but one officer said: ‘She took it off so she can go away, I reckon.’

She was tagged on the fifth attempt – but filmed herself cutting the tag off five weeks later.

Two Dispatches reporters went undercover to work at the Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS).

The EMS is managed by Serco, which signed a contract with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) at an estimated value of £200 million.

A murderer who had absconded from prison was released without a tag for two months, the investigation found.

John Potter stabbed his flatmate to death in 2007. He avoided being tagged after his release by claiming his legs were too swollen to have an alcohol-monitoring device fitted.

Potter, who has a ‘born to raise hell’ tattoo on his neck, absconded from HMP Sudbury in 2018 while serving his sentence, before being arrested again days later.

More than 3,100 prisoners in England and Wales have been released early since September 2024 as part of Labour’s plan to tackle prison overcrowding.

One burglar reportedly spent 78 days without his GPS tag, despite the Government claiming that all prisoners released early were tagged within 53 days.

A pensioner and climate activist spent Christmas, New Year’s and her 78th birthday in January behind bars because a tag that would fit her wrist could not be found.

Gaie Delap, a retired teacher from Bristol, was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment after participating in a Just Stop Oil protest in 2022.

She was released in November to serve the remainder of her sentence at home, but could not have an ankle tag fitted due to her deep-vein thrombosis.

Serco could not find the right-sized tag to fit around Ms Delap’s wrist, so she was re-arrested in December, spending a further six weeks in prison.

Commenting on Ms Delap’s case, Serco said monitoring equipment, including straps, is supplied to them via by a third party supplier to the MOJ. 

Serco was not provided with a tag strap that fitted Ms Delap’s wrist. Once that was provided, it was fitted ‘as soon as possible’.

The discoveries were made at Teesside, which has the highest violent crime rate in the country.

One of the undercover reporters, Lucy Richards, said ‘criminals were running the show’, explaining that they could simply decide not to answer the door during officers’ visits.

The investigation found that one in three tagging visits are no-show and officers were frequently sent to the wrong addresses of offenders, including murderers, due to admin errors.

Serco said it would raise a breach if it could not tag an offender after two visits to their address, in line with the Ministry of Justice’s policy. 

The MoJ said Serco’s performance had been ‘unacceptable’.

‘Tagging is an important and effective way to monitor and punish offenders,’ the ministry said.

‘There are currently record numbers of offenders wearing tags as part of our commitment to cut crime and make streets safer.

‘However, it is clear that Serco’s performance has been unacceptable.

‘Ministers have met with its senior leaders to demand immediate action to improve standards.

‘We will hold Serco to account, with further financial penalties imposed should our expectations not be met.’

Serco Chief Executive Anthony Kirby said the company ‘is proud of the work we have been doing for the last 10 months’.

‘We inherited a significant backlog of untagged prisoners, record numbers of people being monitored in the community and the introduction of two prisoner early release schemes to address challenges with prison overcrowding,’ he said.

‘Despite these challenges, we fully acknowledge the responsibility we have to get it right and are committed to protecting public safety. Serco has invested heavily in this contract and has not made a penny in profit to date.

‘We are tagging a record number of people and by the end of last year our performance had improved and it was publicly recognised to be at an acceptable level.

‘Importantly, despite challenges with tag supply, which is not Serco’s responsibility, our performance continues to improve this year, and we are determined that it will continue to do so, and at pace.

‘Our colleagues perform a challenging role with dedication and professionalism.

‘At the same time, we expect the highest standards of behaviour from our people.’

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