Attempted murder arrest leads to tagging corruption inquiry

Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with allegations that staff at electronic monitoring service (EMS) have been paid to deliberately fit electronic tags loosely so offenders could break their curfew.

EMS employees have allegedly received £400 a time to help at least 32 offenders slip out of their ankle tags.

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation, centred in the borough of Newham, has seen 14 people arrested – three of whom are current or former employees at EMS, now run by outsourcing firm Capita.

The scheme was revealed after a man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder when he should have been abiding by his curfew.

A 46-year-old man who used to work at the EMS was arrested in Essex on January 3 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, as well as the theft of tagging equipment.

His house was searched and items of evidence were recovered, the MPS said.

Two current EMS employees – a 45-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman – were also arrested in Essex on January 18 on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The remaining 11 people – thought to be criminals who paid to have their tags fitted loosely – were arrested throughout January for the same charge.

All 14 suspects have been bailed until April as the MPS investigation continues.

In 2014, Capita took on a six-year contract worth £400 million to electronically tag criminals.

G4S and Serco lost the contract after it emerged they had been overcharging the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for monitoring criminals who were either dead, back in prison, had their tags removed, had never been tagged or had left the country.

This led to the outsourced-security firms repaying the Government £180 million.

A spokesperson for the MPS said: “Detectives in Newham borough are investigating a series of offences involving the monitoring of offenders.

“Police had become aware that offender monitoring equipment was being used inappropriately.”

A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “Public protection is our priority. We are urgently investigating and working closely with the police.”

A spokesman for the EMS said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy against any of our employees who act in any way to undermine the robustness of the electronic monitoring service.

“The small number of employees being investigated regarding this isolated issue were swiftly taken off duties and we are closely co-operating with the MPS.”