Longer prison sentences do not deter would-be terrorists and only delay rehabilitation, a former prisoner who tackled the London Bridge knifeman has said. John Crilly, who seized a lectern, chair and fire extinguisher to subdue Usman Khan, has criticised Boris Johnson’s pledge to increase jail terms. He said excessively punitive policies made it harder to release inmates and “add to the burden on society”. His comments were made before the latest jihadist attack, in Streatham, south London, on Sunday. Khan killed two prison reformers, Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, at a Learning Together conference on rehabilitation in Fishmonger’s Hall in the City of London on 29 November last year.
Crilly, 48, from Manchester, has been on his own odyssey through the criminal justice system: expelled from school at 15, he became a drug dealer, burglar, supposed murderer, victim of wrongful conviction and – supported by Merritt – a freed law graduate. Of the few who defied Khan, two – Crilly and Steve Gallant – had been jailed on joint-enterprise charges. That high proportion, Crilly believes, demonstrates how the law is being repeatedly misapplied. Brought up on a Manchester housing estate, Crilly had a tough start in life. He laboured on building sites, his mother was killed in a traffic accident when he was 17 and on the same day his partner left, denying him access to his son. “After that I became a drug addict,” he said. “I used to inject whizz [amphetamines] and steal cars. I gave up working. I hated everyone, I hated everything, I hated myself. I felt guilty I couldn’t save my Mum.”
Read more: Owen Bowcott, Guardian, https://is.gd/PZvOrB
