Survivors of serious crimes such as rape in England and Wales could be given the option of being alerted in real-time if their perpetrator is nearby, under a scheme being considered by Labour.
James Timpson, the prisons minister, is planning in two weeks to examine a similar scheme which has been established in Spain, he told MPs on Tuesday. It could be used as one of the measures courts can impose on criminals convicted of sexual and domestic-abuse offences.
Survivors of stalking have condemned the courts for failing to strengthen restraining orders against abusers, amid a drop in the number of convictions for breaches.
The government’s plan emerged at a hearing of the Commons’ justice select committee, when Lord Timpson told MPs that he was interested in the use of technology to monitor offenders once they are let out into the community.
Timpson said he was going to Spain in a couple of weeks to look at their use of tags.
“They are doing some really interesting things there,” he said. “I don’t know all the details on this, I am looking forward to learning, but it is around how victims can get much better information about where offenders are geographically and getting much better information for them.”
He added: “Hopefully in due course I will be able to come back to update you on what the options are but I am really excited about them.”
It is understood that ministers are interested in giving survivors of crimes, including rape and stalking, the option of being alerted in real-time if their offender is nearby.
Spain’s ministry of equality last year introduced a system where rape survivors can now demand their offenders wear trackers once released from prison. Reports claim that courts accept requests for former inmates to be tracked via an electronic band around their ankle or wrist.
The GPS band is linked to a device held by the victim alerting any breach of an exclusion zone, and also to a control centre run by Spanish security forces which monitors all devices. In the case of a breach, a police patrol car is supposed to be dispatched to the victim’s location.
Offenders then faced further sentences, including jail time, if they were caught breaching an order imposed by a court, it was reported.
In June, a woman from Wales who was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint by her former partner warned that she and her family were in danger after a judge refused to strengthen a restraining order against her abuser.
Rhianon Bragg had asked for the restraining order on Gareth Wyn Jones, who was freed from prison earlier this year, to be extended to cover the whole of Gwynedd in north Wales rather than a limited area around her remote smallholding in Eryri (Snowdonia).
Ministry of Justice data shows convictions for breaches of restraining orders dropped by 44% between 2018 and 2023. Figures show 8,744 men were convicted for breaching restraining orders in the year to June 2018, but the number had fallen to 4,904 in the year to June 2023.
