Prisoner serving indefinite sentence reunited with son after 14 years

01 May 2024 , 15:01

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Kayden White with his grandmother Margaret following his reunion with his father (Image: Margaret White/family handout/SWNS)

A prisoner serving a controversial indefinite jail sentence after stealing a mobile phone has finally met his teenage son again - 14 years later.

Thomas White, 40, was described by his lad Kayden as the 'best hugger in the world ' when the pair embraced for 'many minutes' at a prison on Thursday, April 25. He has now been locked up for 12 years after receiving a two-year minimum tariff jail term under an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) order.

Those given these types of sentences, which have since been abolished, are only let out if a parole board deems they pose no further threat to the wider community. However, many of the nearly 3,000 offenders currently stuck in jails due to them are low-level offenders, just like Thomas, who fear they have little hope of release.

Lord David Blunkett, the ex-Home Secretary who introduced IPPs, said he "got it wrong" after meeting Kayden, 14, who was ten months old when he last saw his dad. But Margaret White, the teen's grandmother who now looks after him, said they were overcome with emotions when the pair finally met again.

Collect photo of Kayden Wight (left) with dad Thomas White (Margaret White/family handout/SWNS)

She said: "Today is a day my family never thought would come. Thomas and Kayden have finally been allowed to see each other after all these years. There was not a dry eye in the room. We are over the moon that Thomas and Kayden can start to build a normal father-son relationship, but our fight for justice has to continue."

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Margaret said Thomas had lovingly noted his and Kayden's "lanky similarities" during the fleeting visit. She also pleaded for his release, along with the thousands of inmates still serving IPP sentences, calling it a form of 'psychological torture'. Margaret added: "My son remains locked up in prison alongside nearly 3,000 other IPP prisoners who are being psychologically tortured by a sentence that was supposedly abolished 12 years ago.

"I feel like I'm watching a slow suicide and I pray that authorities can please help before it's too late." Until today, Thomas had been consistently denied the basic right to see his son, with the prison citing concerns about his mental health. His mental health diagnosis was recently shifted from schizophrenia to paranoid schizophrenia

Kayden Wight with the letter he has wrote begging the government to release his dad from jail in August 2020 (SWNS)

But an independent assessment also concluded that Thomas's IPP sentence was the probable cause of his mental illness. IPPs were abolished in 2012, just four months after Thomas' incarceration, due to concern over their implementation and psychological impact on inmates. But the abolition was not made retrospective and thousands remain in prison.

Recent data released by the Ministry of Justice showed that 2,796 people are in prison serving IPPs today. And 705 are still serving ten or more years beyond their original sentence, just like Thomas. Thomas' family are now urgently seeking Thomas' transfer to a psychiatric hospital where he can access appropriate mental health treatment.

Lord David Blunkett and James Daly MP for Bury North have both pledged their support to the family on this mission. However, two hospitals in the Greater Manchester area have rejected a bed for Thomas in the last six months despite his worsening mental health. Lord Blunkett previously admitted his regrets over IPPs when he met with Kayden and Clara White, Thomas' sister, in the House of Lords in March 2024.

Kayden White, 14, with ex-Home Secretary Lord David Blunkett (Margaret White/family handout/SWNS)

And he had also pledged his support to help make their recent reunion happen. In February, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said they were working to reduce the number of prisoners on IPP sentences.

They said: "We have reduced the number of unreleased IPP prisoners by three-quarters since we scrapped the sentence in 2012, with a 12 per cent fall in the last year alone where the Parole Board deemed prisoners safe to release. We have also taken decisive action to curtail licence periods and continue to help those still in custody to progress towards release including improving access to rehabilitation programmes and mental health support."

Rom Preston-Ellis