‘Mind-blowing incompetence’ left Jason Graham free to rape and kill

Drug user Jason Graham, who murdered 67-year-old Esther Brown — Jason Graham, who murdered 67-year-old Esther Brown

Campaigners warn many of Scotland’s most dangerous violent sex offenders are being allowed out of prison without ever undergoing retraining for their behaviour.

We can reveal that the rapist killer of frail pensioner Esther Brown spent years sitting 100th on the list for retraining while in prison for previous rapes and three previous attempts to strangle women.

But Jason Graham was freed without ever attending a prison course.

Instead, once he was out of jail, Graham, 30, started drinking, gambling and consorting with drug users while dropping in and out of a community course where experts say “red flags were repeatedly missed over his escalating behaviour”.

Rhona Hotchkiss, a former governor of Greenock, Dumfries and Cornton Vale prisons, said: “It is outrageous that Graham was 100th on the waiting list while in prison, then despite his background of repeat offending he was allowed out early.

“If he had undergone retraining while in prison, there would have been an opportunity to at the very least raise concern that this was an individual whose behaviour could escalate dangerously, which it did.

“He went on to attend retraining classes while in the community but dropped out on a number of occasions without any red flags being raised about that or his worrying escalating behaviour. He finally quit, saying the retraining adversely affected his mental health.”

Behaviour ‘was escalating’

The respected former prison governor, who spent her career working with some of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners, said we need changes such as dangerous violent prisoners being forced to serve their full prison term instead of being allowed out early.

She said: “That would most certainly be an effective way of keeping prisoners deemed to be a danger to the public behind bars for as long as possible.

“The review into the rape and murder of Esther Brown concluded that they could not have predicted this terrible tragedy.

“I challenge that.

“There is clear evidence Graham’s behaviour pattern was escalating before he killed Esther.

“There was a new relationship which ended very quickly, and two unannounced visits from monitoring staff which found he wasn’t in. That was followed by an abusive call from Graham, then someone reported that he was using drugs, he was gambling and missing appointments with psychiatrists.

“All of those issues were red flags which were missed.

“Within days of attending one of his community-based retaining appointments he had raped and murdered Esther Brown.

“The deeply concerning thing is that so much of the current system is based on what is considered as an ‘acceptable risk’ to society – is it the rape and murder of one woman or maybe two women?

“The whole system needs to change.”

‘Mind-blowing incompetence’

The deeply disturbing catalogue of errors laid bare in a review of the case uncovered what Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay describes as “mind-blowing incompetence” of the multi-agency teams supposedly protecting the public from Scotland’s 6,000 dangerous sexual predators.

He said: “It was as plain as day that Esther’s rapist killer was a danger to women. To free him early from prison without taking any form of action to address his behaviour represents a disgraceful dereliction of duty.

“For this whitewash report to then conclude that her murder could not have been prevented is utterly delusional. What is also striking is a complete lack of accountability.”

Karen Ingala Smith, whose Counting Dead Women work is a stark reminder of the reality of lives lost and destroyed by violent offenders, said: “We must question if the prison service is fit for purpose if someone like Jason Graham was left 100th on the waiting list for years and then freed without ever taking part in prison retraining. That is unacceptable.

“When dangerous men get sent to prison for extreme sexual violence, efforts should always be made to train them out of learned behaviour. If they then cannot be assessed as being safe to leave, they should remain in prison.”

Marion Calder of For Women Scotland said: “The man who raped and murdered Esther Brown already had a long history of rape and serious violence against women.

“It is deeply disturbing that this dangerous individual was released without ever getting the help even he recognised he needed.

“We know sexual offending is on the increase, and it horrifies me just how long the waiting lists will be now in Scottish prisons and how many more like Jason Graham will be released on an unsuspecting public.

“That, along with the litany of mistakes highlighted in the Esther Brown case review prove we must have a total overhaul of a failing system which is putting the public at risk.

“If Jason Graham had been dealt with properly for his previous offences with a Lifelong Restriction Order, he wouldn’t have been free to rape and murder Esther Brown.”

Crime statistics

While overall crime has gone down across Scotland, there has been a 47% increase in sex offences, placing an even greater stress on the prison service.

Aimed at high- and medium-risk violent sex offenders, retraining courses in prison are conducted by trained officers, psychologists and trainees, but reviews into the scheme repeatedly show concern over staff shortages.

In an answer to a Freedom of Information request last year, the Scottish Prison Service admitted 230 people were on the waiting list for retraining.

An examination of offenders attending retraining in the community showed that of 911 who started, just 266 completed it.

‘Esther Brown’s murder was preventable. This whole system is broken’

Jason Graham was jailed for at least 19 years for the brutal rape and murder of Esther Brown.

After a drunken argument on May 28 in 2021, Graham was thrown out of a pub and went on a furious rampage.

Frail pensioner Esther Brown, 67, did not stand a chance. CCTV captured Brown climbing a wall into a community garden at the flats where Esther lived in Woodlands, Glasgow. He gained access to her attic flat and beat her to death with a wooden chair, stamping on her body and raping her.

The case caused such an uproar a serious case review was ordered to identify how Graham had repeatedly slipped through the net, revealing incompetence in how he was managed both inside and out of prison for previous rapes and violence against women.

The review made 11 recommendations and identified 14 learning points.

Campaigners rejected the review conclusion that Esther’s murder could not have been predicted or prevented.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: “Graham’s actions were predictable. Esther’s murder was preventable. She deserved better. The women of Scotland deserve better. God help the next woman who is targeted by a registered sex offender, of which there are almost 6,000 across Scotland.

“Unless the government acts, we will be here again: another murdered woman, another review, more lessons to be learned, no accountability.

“The content of the serious case review is jaw-dropping, with incompetence at every level of a system that is supposed to protect the public from sex offenders. There is page after page of failings.

“It is a broken system from top to bottom. The report damns criminal justice social work, the police, the Scottish Prison Service and the national health service.

“We learn that Graham has a history of strangling women. However, when he first strangled a teenager, he was not prosecuted. The report says the case was called in court then vanished. How and why did that happen?

“When he strangled a second teenager two years later, what happened to him?

“A year later, Graham inflicted a sustained attack on a 50-year-old woman in her home. He punched, bit, kicked, strangled and raped her. At long last, having amassed many other criminal convictions, Graham was jailed for seven years and six months but, due to automatic early release, he was back out after less than five years.

“An earlier parole bid was refused because he had not taken part in a prison programme for sex offenders. But, when he was automatically released, he still had not done that.

“After release, he was subject to a curfew, but not once did anyone turn up at his home at night to see whether he was there.

“The report calls that ‘self-reporting’; I call it naive and negligent.

“Also, his curfew was eased around Christmas. Who decided any of that was appropriate and why?

“The report says Graham should have had an electronic tag to monitor his whereabouts, but does not say why that did not happen.

“The report exposes a catalogue of mind-blowing incompetence, but it fails to ask critical follow-up questions.

“This is about accountability – or, rather, a lack of accountability – that seems to have been allowed to become the norm in many of Scotland’s public agencies.”