Met police chief Mark Rowley is 'very worried' about Labour's early release of domestic abusers and stalkers - and says freeing criminals on electronic tags does not work

Sir Mark Rowley has said he is 'deeply worried' about Labour's early release of domestic abusers and stalkers from prison. Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari on Thursday morning, the Met Commissioner described the release of 'obsessive' and 'repeat' violent and domestic offenders as a 'very difficult' problem - as fears for the safety of victims continues to rise.And he revealed the Met are now dealing with 100 breaches of conditions by prisoners released on electronic tags every day - with more than 95 of them getting re-bailed by the courts rather than sent back to prison. Kirsty, calling the programme from Canterbury, told Sir Mark her stalker was sentenced to five years imprisonment in January 2025, but under Labour's new early release scheme said she received a letter to say he would be freed in January. The news of her stalker's release, she described, has left her 'angry' and feeling unsafe. She questioned why those who have committed violent offences toward women and girls are set for early release - and asked the Commissioner what can police do to help victims feel safer. Sir Mark said: 'The Labour government are making decisions I'm not going to defend or criticise.' Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he is 'deeply worried' about Labour's early release of domestic abusers and stalkers from prison'I speak to many victims of domestic violence,' Sir Mark said. 'It is so intrusive.''I am really sorry for the affect this has had on you. I can understand completely how someone released early is unnerving you.'I am deeply worried about the release of people into communities, but I think there is a challenge the government is wrestling with. This is a very poor approach to long-term policy, where the national approach to sentencing offenders and the national approach to building prisons have been completely different.'So, sentencing policy has not been followed by prison-building policy that's going to match it.'Eventually, that came to a crash at the change in government and they've had to wrestle with that challenge.'It comes as more than 700 offenders were released from prison earlier this month under the Labour government's early release scheme, which is intended to combat overcrowding in prisons across England and Wales.Under the plans, more than 4,500 inmates - including violent offenders, domestic abusers and fraudsters - will be eligible for early release over the next ten months.Despite safety risks, ministers have insisted measures are being put in place to keep the public protected, including the increased use of electronic tagging. Sir Mark added there are also 100 tagging breach cases reported per day in London - a figure which is only 'increasing'Justice secretary Alex Norris previously boasted 'the biggest expansion of tagging ever' will take place as part of the measures, and said there are plans for new 'restriction zones' limiting offenders' movements with the help of GPS tracking.But Sir Mark said there are 100 tagging breach cases reported per day in London alone - a figure which is only 'increasing.' 'The challenge, at the moment, is the number of breaches,' he told Mr Ferrari. 'We are seeing 95 per cent plus of the tagging breaches that we arrest are simply being bailed back into the community on the same conditions, so there is zero sanction.'We are arresting two or three early release offenders a week who are being recalled to prison or doing further offending.' Sir Mark added the force is seeing 'fewer' offenders reprimanded in prison, while the number of people failing to appear in court is also 'increasing'. He said at present, 1,600 arrest warrants per month are issued by the force, a figure that has doubled from 800. This, he said, has meant 'more volatile people are being put into communities.'To tackle this, Sir Mark said, the Met Police 'are trying to get sharper at spotting the most dangerous people.' But he agreed with Mr Ferrari, who described the issue as a 'revolving door.'He added: 'I've heard issues around obsessive offenders, repeat domestic violence offenders, they are very difficult, very dangerous. It's going to be very difficult not they're going to be released early.'