Portsmouth burglar released early from jail on GPS tag 'scared' and 'can't sleep at night' after prison issues recall notice with tag not working

Fahad Abbas, 40, of Drummond Road, Fratton, was jailed along with Benjamin Coates, 38, of Abrams Way, Havant, to two years and 21 weeks each in prison in February. The pair had burgled a flat in Twyford Avenue on November 1 last year before stealing around £2,000 worth of jewellery and £300 in cash.

Abbas, who was remanded in November last year, was released early from jail on licence after being accepted onto the government’s £183m crime tagging pilot scheme launched in March 2021. But after returning home in October to have his tag fitted, the device was failing to work through ‘no fault’ of the offender.

Regular checks by the tag fitting firm had tried to resolve the issue as tampering was ruled out and new tags fitted. Concerns were raised the tags - prone to technology flaws like anything else - could be in a ‘drop out zone’ where the GPS signal struggled to be picked up.

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With Abbas unmonitored in the community, daily checks on him were carried out by police as they tried to resolve the issue. But with concerns the tag was not working, the prison issued a recall notice with its priority to protect the public.

Abbas, speaking of his concerns at going back to jail, told The News: ‘I’m scared, I’m living in fear. I can’t sleep at night worried about them taking me to jail. I’ve done nothing wrong, the tag just hasn’t been working with it having no signal.

‘They are sending people back to prison when they have not committed a crime. How many people are being sent to prison that shouldn’t be? It’s against human rights.’

With Abbas pleading not to be returned to jail, police were able to propose a force ‘Buddy tag’ as a back-up option to monitor him in the community. But, miraculously, after 10 days of the prison GPS tag malfunctioning, it suddenly started working - with the prison indicating it would rescind the recall notice. However, if it were to stop working again it is hoped the police Buddy tag would be accepted as an alternative option.

Inspector David Ryan, of the Integrated Offender Management and Youth Offending Team at Hampshire Constabulary, said: ‘The Ministry of Justice announced that offenders in burglary, theft and robbery cases would be required to wear a GPS tag following their release from prison in an effort to crack down on neighbourhood and acquisitive crime.

‘This crime tagging pilot allows us to work with those who have left prison and provides us with opportunities to deal with those that do re-offend. Hampshire Constabulary is actively engaged in this scheme and we work closely with the Probation Service, who are responsible for adding the mandatory licence conditions and managing the sentence.

‘We will always follow up on information indicating someone’s tag has been tampered with, damaged, or is otherwise not operating properly. Such instances are investigated and if the individual involved is not at fault we will work hard to make alternative arrangements for them that is in their best interests.’