Image source, PA Media

Plans to release some prisoners early is a “dangerous gamble with the public safety”, the aunt of murdered law graduate Zara Aleena says.

Aleena was murdered by Jordan McSweeney, nine days after he was released from prison and while he was in the process of being recalled after his licence was revoked for failing to meet probation officers.

Her aunt Farah Naz tells BBC Breakfast if those released from prison aren’t properly supervised they can become “emboldened”.

She points to what she says was underfunding in the probation service, which monitors prisoners when they are released on licence and have to abide by certain conditions.

“If the system cannot deal with those people being released into the community, then those people are not going to be supervised adequately. When people – perpetrators, even thieves – are not supervised adequately, crime can escalate,” she says.

“Then we’ve got unsupervised people because of a poor probation service in the community and people become emboldened: ‘Well I can do that what I like if nobody is supervising me.’

“That’s what happened in our situation. It was a man that was emboldened because he was not supervised. He was not assessed. He was constantly allowed to do what he wanted to do.

“Therein lies a dangerous gamble with the public safety with this move right now.”