'My son was failed, his killer should've been in prison'

A mother whose son was murdered by a man on licence from prison said he was "failed" by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Joe Pooley, 22, was thrown into the River Gipping in Ipswich and held underwater in August 2018.

Sebastian Smith, who was previously known as Luke Greenland, was one of three people jailed in 2021 for Mr Pooley's murder, and it later emerged Smith should have been recalled to prison at the time of the attack.

Sam Nicholls, Mr Pooley's mother, is suing the MoJ, and argued Smith should not have been free that night; an MoJ spokesperson said the probation service acted on a review and hired more officers.

In the early hours of 7 August 2018, Mr Pooley had been lured out of the bed and breakfast he was temporarily living in and was set upon.

His body was found face down in the river by a dog walker on 13 August.

Smith as well as Sean Palmer and Becki West-Davidson, who was previously known as Rebecca Shevlin, were jailed for life and sentenced to serve minimum terms of between 17 and 21 years for Mr Pooley's murder.

Ipswich Crown Court heard at the time Mr Pooley's murder came about over "sexual jealously" after he had slept with West-Davidson.

However it came to light that in May 2018, Smith had been released from prison after assaulting a police officer and was placed on home curfew.

He had an electronic tag, but within a month he had removed this which should have meant an automatic recall to prison.

At Mr Pooley's inquest four years later, Suffolk coroner Jacqueline Devonish concluded he had been unlawfully killed and that one of those responsible had a history of violent offending and should have been recalled to prison before the killing.

Ms Nicholls is making a civil claim against the MoJ and has asked the department to "take some responsibility" over the fact Smith "should not have been where he was that night".

"I want an apology," she explained. "We can't bring Joe back but how many other Joes out there are there?

"How many other people are going to be out there that this is going to happen to?"

"Joe was failed so badly in his life and even in his death."

Ms Nicholls claimed she was told staffing problems within the probation service were the reason why Smith had not been recalled to prison.

"That's not good enough," she continued. "I don't want to hear that now, Joe's not here anymore.

"Nobody wants to hear that, the public don't want to know that we've got people out there that should be being monitored that aren't because people aren't being paid enough or there's not enough jobs or whatever."

Ms Nicholls wants to ensure there is a "system in place to protect the public and vulnerable people".

Ms Nicholls said it "still feels like yesterday" since she lost her son.

"Joe loved talking, he was quite a social person and we always used to say he had verbal diarrhoea, but I'd do anything to hear that now, I really would," she said.

She admitted she had a "difficult" relationship with her son in the last few years of his life, but she was "angry" she had lost any future with him.

"I just want someone to stand up and say, 'We're really sorry for what happened to Joe and we'll try harder to make sure these things don't happen again'," she added.

A MoJ spokesperson said: "The murder of Joe Pooley in 2018 was a horrific crime. Our thoughts remain with his family and friends.

"Since his death, the Probation Service has acted on the findings of the review conducted at the time.

"Under the new government, it has also recruited thousands more probation officers, and refocused probation officers' time on those who pose a higher risk to society."

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