Fugitive child rapist could get early release despite not serving a day in jail

A child rapist who has been on the run for years is reportedly in line for early release under the government’s prison scheme.

Brian Green, 76, has not spent a single day behind bars since he was sentenced in his absence to 22 years in 2024 for five counts of rape. 

Green, of Huddersfield, is believed to be hiding in Thailand as he has family ties.

His victim, who he attacked from the age of nine to 13, told The Sun

She said: ‘I got an email with the subject “Developments” and thought, “they’ve got him”.

‘But it read, “I have to tell you once he’s apprehended, he will be let out early”. This is not justice. How can this be right?’

Green, who failed to turn up for his trial or sentencing, raped his victim ‘hundreds of times’, Leeds Crown Court previously heard.

The fugitive told the girl she was ‘ugly and stupid’ and that ‘no one loves her’, prosecutor Katherine Robinson said.

This was Green’s way of ‘controlling’ his victim, Judge Khan QC said.

An archived version of Green’s since-removed appeal on Crimestopper’s Most Wanted list says police have been ‘unable to locate him’.

The early release program, due to start in September, was announced in 2024 as a solution to the UK’s overcrowded and crumbling prison system.

It would see offenders need to serve just 40% of their sentence before being freed, rather than half when they could be released ‘on license’, similar to parole.

While the most serious offenders, like those convicted of terrorism, are ineligible, some sex offenders can be out on the streets after serving two-thirds of their sentence under the 2026 Sentencing Act.

But Prime Minister Andy Burnham put the scheme on hold on Thursday amid fears that the men who killed PC Andrew Harper would walk free.

Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole strapped PC Harper, 28, to the back of a car and dragged him for more than a mile along a country road in 2019.

Bowers and Cole, who were passengers in the car and 17 years old at the time, were jailed for 13 years the following year for manslaughter.

Burnham has said PC Harper’s killers will not be released from prison early.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been approached for comment.

In response to reports of Bowers and Cole’s release, the MoJ said earlier this week that the UK is facing a ‘prison crisis’.

The ministry added: ‘This government is committed to public safety: we are building prison places at the fastest rate since the Victorian era, and taking the difficult decisions needed to lock up the most dangerous offenders.’

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