Burglar on day release from prison raids 56 homes after failing to return to jail

After serving three years of a seven-year sentence for burglary, Shane Jarvis was allowed out of Dartmoor on day release.

He had passed a risk assessment at the jail and was judged to be no threat to the public.

But Jarvis, 38, simply resumed his old occupation and by the time police caught up with him just over a month later, he had burgled 56 more homes.

Last night Jarvis, who preyed on the elderly by pretending to be from a gas or electricity company, began an extra six-year term and many of his victims were questioning why he was freed early.

At Swindon Crown Court, Judge David Smith said: "You were on day release and presumably the prison authorities thought they were preparing you for life on the outside once again.

"You took advantage of that and went burgling again."

Later, Eileen Halfpenny, 81, from Cricklade, Wiltshire, who was targeted by Jarvis twice, said: "I couldn't believe they had just let him go and expected him to come back. It was wrong.

"There should be an inquiry. If he was sentenced to seven years, why did they let him out unsupervised?"

James Gray, Tory MP for North Wiltshire, whose constituents were constantly targeted by Jarvis, echoed her calls for an inquiry.

He said: "It is plainly outrageous and ridiculous. He simply should not have been let out."

Jarvis had been jailed for seven years in 2004 for committing 58 burglaries. On June 2 last year, he was allowed out on day release from Dartmoor but failed to return.

Instead, he began a 39-day crime spree, where he would persuade elderly people to let him into their homes where he would take cash and valuables.

He was tracked down to a campsite and arrested.

A Prison Service spokesman said yesterday that Jarvis would not have been allowed out if he wasn't judged safe.

"All prisoners are rigorously risk assessed before release on temporary licence and no prisoners are released if there are concerns for public safety," she said.