Britain’s probation service is in deep trouble

After he was convicted of arson Damien Bendall should have been sent to prison. But the probation officer who wrote a pre-sentence report on him failed to consider police evidence showing that Mr Bendall was a violent criminal who posed a threat to young girls. He was given a suspended sentence and allowed to live with his pregnant girlfriend. Months later, in September 2021, he murdered her and three children, one of whom he raped.The probation officer, a review later revealed, was inexperienced, and the report he produced “very poor”. He had determined that Mr Bendall was “low risk” to partners and children and “medium risk” to the public; in fact, he should have been classed “high risk” in both categories. The colleague who took on the job of managing Mr Bendall during his suspended sentence was inexperienced, too, having been recruited only six months earlier.