LOSS: Donna Mooney says her brother Tommy Nichol committed suicide when he was depressed about his indefinite sentence
“I was told under the act I was dangerous, so I would be given an indeterminate sentence. But I now effectively work for the Ministry of Justice which kept me in prison. If I was dangerous then, what’s changed from then to now?” Mr Nicol took his own life in 2015, two years after he would have been released were it not for his IPP sentence. He was 37.Ms Mooney said his brother had complained of “psychological torture”, not knowing when he’d ever be released, and went on hunger strike. He also suffered long periods in solitary confinement.
But last month the government rejected the Justice Committee findings, prompting Conservative chair of the inquiry, Bob Neill, to criticise his own party, saying: “The nettle has not been grasped and, as a result, these people will remain held in an unsustainable limbo.”
That’s unjust