Father imprisoned for 12 years for stealing mobile phone under ‘cruel’ indefinite jail term reunited with son

Exclusive: Schoolboy’s joy at meeting father serving IPP sentence after heartbreaking ban of more than 10 years on visits – as The Independent renews its call for a review of all 3,000 prisoners still affected by the abolished law

IPP prisoner Thomas White with his son Kayden aged just 10 months (Margaret White)

A father who has languished in prison for more than 12 years under an abolished indefinite jail term for stealing a mobile phone has been reunited with his son for the first time.

Thomas White, 40, had been banned from prison visits with his only child Kayden, now 14, since being handed a controversial IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentence.

The father and son have finally shared an emotional reunion following an intervention by David Blunkett, the architect of the IPP sentence, who now admits he regrets introducing the policy.