Luke Ings and Liam Bennett were told by Mr Justice Choudhury that their IPPs had been “cancelled” after the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred their cases back to the crown court. Bennett, now 38, was 17 when he committed offences including reckless arson and burglary in 2007 and was given a minimum term of 24 months. Ings, also 38, was sentenced in 2006 for a robbery and an assault after admitting offences aged 17; his minimum term was 21 months.
A third man, James Ward, now 41, was given a one-year minimum in 2006 for arson and criminal damage while serving time for assault. He was freed in 2017 after serving 10 years beyond his minimum but was later recalled to prison and remained in custody until August this year. Ward attended the hearing in the public gallery and saw his sentence replaced with a two-year term.
The court replaced the IPPs with determinate sentences: Bennett will serve four years and 264 days, Ings 42 months with a 30-month extended licence, and Ward two years. Because all three have already served longer than the replacement sentences, Bennett and Ings were entitled to immediate release without further supervision, and Ward is no longer subject to supervision.
Muin Boase, representing Bennett, successfully argued that the original judge did not give proper weight to his youth, lack of maturity and capacity to change after a difficult childhood. The appeal court found there had been no proper basis for the original finding of dangerousness.
IPP sentences were introduced in 2005 for offenders considered a significant risk to the public and abolished in 2012 after warnings they were being applied too widely. The abolition was not retrospective, leaving many prisoners still serving such sentences. The government has faced calls to act, with former justice secretary Ken Clarke and current justice secretary Alex Norris both addressing the issue in recent weeks.