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Badgers to indirectly free prisoners for this one reason in overcrowding crisis

Environmental and planning disputes have delayed the building of three new prisons that would have provided beds to ease Britain's crowded jail crisis

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Despite having legal protection, badger are one of the most persecuted species in the UK(Image: Getty Images)

More convicts will have to be freed early after it was revealed thousands of new jail beds have been delayed by badgers, water weeds and great crested newts. Environmental and planning disputes have put back the opening of three new mega-prisons meant to be in service now until as late as 2031.

They would have provided 5,000 extra spaces to relieve overcrowding. Starting in October the Government plans to release 5,000 criminals early over 10 months to free up space in packed prisons.

The delay of the new jails suggests the number of early releases looks certain to grow. The let-them-out early policy has already sparked huge public criticism.

[Construction work on the site for HMP Welland Oaks, a new prison which is currently under construction in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and forms one part of the Government's plan to deliver 13,000 new prison spaces by 2031. Picture date: Tuesday August 4, 2026.]

Construction work on the site of HMP Welland Oaks(Image: 2026 PA Media, All Rights Reserved)

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced villains who have committed sickening crimes such as rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences will be excluded. But fury has erupted over the planned early release of two of hero cop Andrew Harpers killers.

Almost 850,000 have signed an online petition demanding Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole - set to be freed after serving half of their 13-year sentences for the brave bobbys manslaughter - remain behind bars.

PC Harper, 28, was dragged to his death by a car down a country road as he tried to stop a teen gang stealing a quad bike in Berkshire in 2019.

Burnham is said to be trying to find a way to keep the pair in jail after Government sources said the backlash over their freedom could prove a vote-loser.

The Tories have pledged to solve the prisons crisis by leaving the European Convention on Human Rights then deporting all foreign inmates in UK jails.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said releasing vile cop killers early was an insult to PC Andrew Harper's family and brave officers up and down the country.

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Great crested newt(Image: Getty Images)

Oxford West and Abingdon Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said the case had never properly left the public consciousness and people felt like they were reliving the grief with the family.

The prospect of Bowers and Cole being freed early was compounding injustice on injustice and the case had become a test of new PM Burnham, she added.

Government figures show the overall capacity of the prison system has increased by just 26 places since Labour came to power two years ago.

Ministers have previously blamed the presence of badgers, which are a protected species, for halting building work on new super jails.

Under nature laws the creatures can only be evicted from their setts between July and November - restricting when construction work can take place.

A former Tory prisons minister blamed EU-era environmental rules about water weeds for holding up jail expansion.

Local councillors refused to grant planning permission for the three delayed new jails meaning ministers had to launch lengthy legal processes to overturn the decisions.

Residents gripes held up the building of a 1,700-bed jail in Lancashire for four years.

Council officials blocked construction of a 1,500-capacity site in Grendon, Bucks, over concerns about its effect on great crested newts.

Neither is now expected to open for five years.

Building work on 1,700-inmate HMP Welland Oaks, Leics, is underway but it was delayed by residents protests and a council planning committee rejection.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the Government was pulling every lever to protect the public and cut crime and building prison places at the fastest rate since the Victorian era.

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