Silcott's hopes of freedom boosted by jail transfer

Winston Silcott, one of Britain's most controversial life-sentence prisoners, has been moved to an open prison in readiness for his possible release, the Prison Service confirmed yesterday.

Silcott was convicted of murdering Police Constable Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, north London, in 1985, but was cleared by the Court of Appeal six years later.

He remains in custody serving a life sentence for the murder of Anthony Smith, a boxer, at a party in 1984. Silcott claims he was acting in self-defence.

He will have served 17 years this month, three years over the minimum tariff he was told he must serve before becoming eligible for parole.

His supporters have claimed he is being kept in prison for political reasons. Silcott's legal team said the Parole Board had recommended in January that he be transferred to an open prison. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has accepted the recommendation.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled earlier this month that the Home Secretary could not overrule a Parole Board recommendation to release a prisoner.

Silcott's brother George said yesterday: "We look forward to having him home, although we are very concerned about how long it is taking. He has never caused any problems in prison and it's difficult to understand how it could have taken David Blunkett six months to approve the board's recommendation."

Silcott's solicitor, Tony Murphy, said: "He has been described as a model prisoner since his last review in 1999 and should have been transferred to an open prison then.

"He looks forward to progressing through open and returning to his family."

The Prison Service said it did not discuss individual cases. However, a spokeswoman said: "Life-sentence prisoners who are transferred to open conditions will have been assessed thoroughly by the independent Parole Board. The assessment must conclude that a prisoner is a sufficiently low risk to be transferred to open conditions.

"Most life sentence prisoners spend a period in open conditions so their readiness and suitability for release can be assessed."

Silcott, who has grown a 3ft-long beard which he refuses to shave until he is freed, was allowed out of the low-security Stocken jail in Leicestershire in November last year on a "familiarisation visit", accompanied by at least one prison officer. The six-hour visit to Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, prompted stories in sections of the media that he was being allowed "shopping" trips.

Scotland Yard is reinvestigating the murder of PC Blakelock. A spokesman said the inquiry was continuing and was an "in-depth and painstaking process involving the re-examination of hundreds of exhibits and statements in the light of new technology and methods".