Father still trapped in jail 18 years after being given 8-month IPP sentence for waving a starting pistol [Video]

A father trapped under an abolished indefinite jail term has made six attempts on his own life after serving 25 times longer than his original sentence, The Independent can reveal.

James Lawrence was handed a discredited imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail sentence with an eight-month minimum term in 2006 for threatening someone with a starting pistol.

Then aged 20, he told the court he was carrying the imitation gun for protection after nearly losing his life in a stabbing in the same part of Southampton the year before.

Now 38, he is believed to be one of Britain’s longest over-tariff IPP prisoners, having spent nearly 18 years in custody.

But The Independenthas learned Labour is to turn its back on him – and almost 3,000 other IPP prisoners still languishing in cells – …