Labour must ‘urgently seek more prison accommodation’, warns former Met Police detective

A judge who spared a 23-year-old thief jail has been branded “appalling” and “naive” by a former Detective Chief Superintendent at the Met Police.

Will Pearson was handed a 12-month community order and a fine after brazenly stealing £350 from a pensioner in a remote village in Cumbria. The prison term that could have been handed to Pearson could have been 26 weeks.