Boston MP says “fault lies with the system” after another prisoner absconds

Boston’s MP believes the “fault lies with the system that puts people in the wrong kind of prison” after a convicted sex offender absconded from HMP North Sea Camp.

Lincolnshire Police recently put out an appeal for information on the whereabouts of 53-year-old Paul Marshall, who was serving a life sentence at the open prison near Boston for rape and wounding with intent.

Marshall was reported missing from the prison on Tuesday, November 22 and police said anyone who sees him should approach him, but instead call 999 quoting incident 298 of 22/11/2022. He is thought to be in the Mansfield/Nottingham area, police added.

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman was tagged in a post in local Facebook group ‘Boston the People (United Kingdom)’, asking when he will campaign for sex offenders not to be placed in an open prison regardless of the time served.

Marshall has been reported missing from the prison. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

He said: “This latest news is concerning, although important for local people to say that he’s not believed to be in the local area. I’ll be talking to the Prison Governor today to get more details.

“As I’ve said elsewhere, open prison populations should be dictated by the appropriateness of a prisoner for the environment, and their past offence is a factor but not the only factor in that.

“For instance, some prolific burglars would pose far greater risk to the public in the sense that they may be more likely to reoffend.

Boston and Skegness MP, Matt Warman. | Picture: Daniel Jaines.

“For many years now, North Sea Camp has housed a large proportion of sex offenders; the fault lies with the system that puts people in the wrong kind of prison, which has been tightened up by Dominic Raab and is in the process of being further improved.”

This is not the first time this year that prisoners have absconded from the open prison.

Convicted sex offender Gary Butcher absconded from HMP North Sea Camp on May 31 before later handing himself into officers in Derbyshire on June 3. He was charged with escape of lawful custody and was taken to a closed prison.

Another sex offender, Paul Robson, who was branded a “menace to females” sparked a nationwide manhunt after escaping from the open jail on a prison service bike. He was later given an eight-month jail term.

These recent examples alone are causing a lot of concern and the local MP engaged with others on the social post about the issue.

This included one of his constituents who asked what he was doing about the issue which “keeps happening two or three times a year”.

Warman responded by saying: “On the specific issue of North Sea Camp, since 2015 absconds have remained at historically low levels and resources have increased for officers and staffing generally, as well as the overall system being tightened hugely.

“On the broader issues, happy to discuss the forthcoming A&E, the flood barrier, towns fund and more. How any of that equates to ‘doing nothing’ is beyond me.”

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