'My son gave a criminal a second chance - he paid with his life'

A heartbroken mum has claimed that her son's murderer should have still been in prison, accusing the authorities of having "blood on their hands".

Donna Powell, 54, is demanding answers as to why Robert Goodwin was free to walk the streets and kill her son, Shane Thompson, 32, in December 2021. Shane, a father-of-one, had offered Goodwin employment upon his release from prison, but was fatally stabbed when they returned to Shane's home after a pub visit.

Goodwin was convicted of Shane's murder and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 22 years in April last year. However, Donna, a retired school cook from Birmingham, questions why Goodwin was at liberty to commit the crime while he was supposed to be serving a 41-month custodial sentence.

Goodwin had been imprisoned for a robbery in December 2018 that left his victim unconscious - he was subsequently released on licence but then recalled to jail after being accused of assaulting another individual. Despite this, he was later freed on parole and nine days afterwards, murdered Shane Thompson.

Donna insists that Goodwin should have remained incarcerated when her son was killed, reports the Mirror.

She has now pointed the finger at both the parole board and the probation service for "not doing their job" and declared she'd be prepared to "stand outside Parliament" to secure justice for her son.

Donna stated: "I blame them for my son's death. Because if they had done their job, he would still be alive. They have my son's blood on their hands.

"I have no faith in the authorities. It's complete waste of time having them if they let people out to murder. If I worked for the Parole Board, there is no way I would have let this man out of prison. I need to fight for other families who have been through this.

"I need the government to realise that parole is not working. If I've got to stand outside Parliament I will do it. They don't do their job. They don't do their due diligence."

In January 2021, while on parole, Robert Goodwin reportedly attempted to stab another individual and assaulted him with a wooden implement. As a result, he was deemed wanted in relation to a Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) offence and a standard recall was issued on 5 March 2021.

Goodwin evaded capture until March 26, 2021, when he was ultimately returned to custody. But after the GBH charges were dropped, Goodwins offender manager suggested he could be released due to him being considered motivated to partake in the work needed to manage his risk.

Despite the alleged stabbing attempt, Probation continued to categorise Goodwin as a medium risk instead of high risk - a mistake Donna's lawyer, Corey Smith, has highlighted. His behaviour in custody was also reportedly "poor" and "aggressive" towards prison staff.

By October, he had to be isolated for violating prison rules.

Despite this, the Parole Board decided to release Goodwin in November, stating that his risk to the public and immediacy of harm had not increased. Donna criticised the system used by the board to assess risk, claiming it failed to acknowledge the alleged stabbing attempt or other instances of aggressive behaviour towards prison and medical staff.

Goodwin was released on November 25. In early December, he met Shane, who was working as a builder at the time, and offered him a job out of sympathy.

"My son was building up his business at that time and Shane gave him a job," Donna said. On December 4, the two went for a drink and later returned to Shane's house.

"We don't know what happened in the house," Donna admitted. That evening, Shane's girlfriend came home to find her boyfriend lying in a pool of blood on her bed with multiple stab wounds.

"A knife had gone straight through my son's arms and legs with some force. But it was the wound to his heart that killed him," Donna revealed. She said the family is still grappling with his loss, adding: "Some days we don't want to get out of bed. Shane's brother hasn't been able to work.

"No one will hire me. I break down in job interviews. I was a school cook for 23 years. We were planning to retire and move to Spain."

A spokesperson for the Parole Board commented: "Every serious further offence is a tragedy in which victims and their families' lives are affected forever. Whilst these represent a tiny proportion of cases considered, one case is one tragedy too many and we take these extremely seriously. Where this happens, the Parole Board is committed to doing everything it can to learn the lessons that will help to prevent further tragedies."

They continued, detailing the review process: "The Board has a dedicated review process led by the Review Committee which closely examines and scrutinises any parole release decision after a serious further offence. This process involves outside experts, judges, psychologists, psychiatrists as well as senior management and is in place to identify any lessons that could be learnt."

On the matter of prisoner release, the spokesperson added: "Prisoners directed for release by the Board are released on licence to be managed in the community by the Probation Service. The Probation Service are able to recall an offender to custody at any point if their behaviour causes concern."

In addition, a representative from the Probation Service stated: "This was an awful crime and we continue to offer our sincere apologies to the family of Shane Thompson. We have since taken important steps to address the issues identified, including new mandatory training and strengthened quality checks for risk assessments."

They also highlighted improvements in funding: "We are also providing extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver the robust supervision required to keep the public safe."

Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.