Dear Ms Devonish,

Inquest into the death of Angela Craddock

Thank you for your Regulation 28 Report, issued following the Inquest into the death of Angela Craddock, addressed to the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison & Probation Service. I am replying as the Director General Operations of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

I know that you will share a copy of this response with the family and I would first like to express my sincere condolences for their loss. Every death in these circumstances is a tragedy and the implementation of learning from this is an absolute priority.

You have raised matters of concerns in the following terms

1. The offender had not been subject of any pre-sentence or post sentence review following conviction on 19 February 2018 for possession of a knife and a section 39 assault on Angela Craddock. The offender was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and the Restraining order was granted for 12 months.

Response –

Since this sentencing exercise took place, Cheshire HMCTS has introduced Dedicated Domestic Abuse Courts (DDAs) to deal specifically with domestic abuse related offences. HMCTS, the CPS, and Cheshire Police and Probation Services are working together to improve information sharing and to ensure that Sentencers have all the relevant and necessary information, assessments and advice to deal appropriately with these cases in Court. Cheshire Probation provides a dedicated Court Duty Officer to work in the DDA Court each day to ensure all necessary enquiries are made and sufficiently focused and detailed reports for sentencing purposes are provided.

2. During the 39 days between conviction and release the offender phoned Angela Craddock on 160 occasions. Most of the calls did not connect. The offender also wrote several letters to Angela Craddock from prison in breach of the Restraining Order. Details of the Restraining Order were sent to HMP Altcourse and on receipt a paper copy of the conditions were placed in an envelope to be delivered to the Public Protection Department. This was never received so the relevant staff were not aware of the Restraining Order.

Response -

I am aware that you have also addressed your Report to the prison and the Governor will be able respond to this specific matter of concern in relation to the prison’s own internal processes. Please be assured that Probation and Prison Services share learning and review ways to improve practice on a regular basis.

3. Consequently, upon release on licence the community rehabilitation service were unaware of the breaches of the Restraining Order and were unable to include this information in the OASYs risk assessment or the prison recall report and review, ultimately sent on to the police for the enforcement of the recall notice.

Response -

At the relevant time, the post sentence supervision was being delivered by the Cheshire & Greater Manchester Community Rehabilitation Company Limited (CRC) and the separation of the delivery of probation supervision had added to the complexity of arrangements to share information between prisons and probation. The CRCs ceased to hold contracts to deliver probation services on the 25th June 2021 and there is now one Probation Service. This has simplified and therefore improved the sharing of information between releasing prisons and the receiving probation service area.

In addition to the specific responses set out above, it may be of assistance for you to note that HM Inspectorate of Probation has just published a thematic inspection of work undertaken, and progress made, by the Probation Service to reduce the incidence of domestic abuse and protect victims. This includes a number of recommendations for both HMPPS and the Probation Service and will be considered with care and attention and an action plan prepared to respond to the recommendations. Of particular note, the Report includes sections on assessment and planning and sentence delivery which are relevant to the issues of concern you have raised and learning from the specific issues you have raised will be taken into consideration in the preparation of an action plan.

Thank you for bringing these matters of concern to my attention. Please be assured that learning from the circumstances of this tragic death will be shared more widely with colleagues across all the Probation Service Regions.

Dear Mrs Devonish Regulation 28: Report to prevent future deaths Angela Craddock (Deceased) Thank you for your Regulation 28 report of 24th May 2023 addressed to me as the Director of HMP Altcourse. I know that you may share a copy of this response and I would first like to express my condolences to Angela's family for their loss. Every death is a tragedy and keeping the public safe is a priority for us as a prison that serves the courts of Merseyside and Cheshire. HMP Altcourse was made aware of the circumstances of Angela's death by the OHR back in 2018. As a result of that communication a review of our systems and procedures was undertaken. This found that at that time a copy of the court documents normally arrived with the prisoner and court services team on admission into the prison. These documents would be sent up to our custody records department and any public protection matters i.e. a restraining order would be photocopied and a copy sent to the Public Protection Team. Once received a member of the team would follow it up by interviewing the offender and explaining the restrictions. Once completed restriction of phone calls and written correspondence would be put in place. This did not happen on this occasion as the Public Protection Team had no evidence of ever receiving the restraining order in the internal post as per our process. This then meant restrictions were not put in place and relevant agencies were not aware of the Restraining Order. A series of actions were then put in place to ensure we had assurance of no future reoccurrence. Those actions were: All documents including restraining orders, warrants, and PERs are photocopied by our Admissions department upon receipt from the court services provider and collected the following morning by a member of the Public Protection Team who will sift any relevant risks, implement the relevant restrictions, and update the warnings on our local Custody Management System/P Nomis systems. Any complete mail/ call monitoring requests are forwarded to the Head of Offender Management Unit for approval. HMP Altcourse Higher Lane 5T01' HUNGER Fazakerley Liverpool L9 7LH Tel: 0151 522 2000 A.Sodu.olnlbatr.-r Sodexo Limited ­ No 842846 ­ England ­ Registered Office - One Southampton Row ­ London ­ WC1 B 5HA

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* QUALITY OF LIFE SERVICES As further assurance the Custody Department upon receipt of a restraining order will scan the order and email it to the functional mailbox for OMU/Public Protection Unit and an evidence trail is kept of those sent documents. This was put in place to prevent any internal mail failures or the Public Protection Team not collecting items from Admissions. Since 2018 the Prison has gained access to probation and court documents via N Delius, Digital Prison System and the Common Platform (Courts). These systems give us significant information to allow staff completing Public Protection risk assessments to have access to live and up to date information. This further improvement in our systems gives us confidence that a repeat occurrence will be avoided in the future. Thank you again for bringing your concerns to my attention. I trust that this response provides assurance that actions have been taken to address this matter and prevent reoccurrence.