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The Ministry of Justice is facing criticism for accidentally sending intimate details of the suffering of a violent stalker to his victims and their families over his horrific campaign.
Fearing Gareth Wyn Jones could target her and her family again when he is released from prison, Rhiannon Bragg said the MoJ had given her more “ammunition”.
Jones will try to persuade the parole board in the new year to release him before the end of a four-and-a-half-year custodial sentence for crimes including holding Bragg hostage at gunpoint for eight hours.
As part of the parole process, the MoJ’s public safety casework department prepared a dossier about his case which was sent to Jones and included, mistakenly, a letter written by a clinical psychologist who had worked with Bragg setting out the details of his impact. Crimes against him and his family.
The letter was sent to Jones in February but Bragg was only informed of the error this month. The MoJ called the error “unacceptable” and launched an investigation.
Bragg, 50, who lives with her four children in a remote hilltop community in North Wales, said: “It’s an absolutely terrifying situation. They shared with them my mental health evaluation, my diagnosis. They have shared intimate information about me and the children.
“You want to keep everything from someone like that. I can’t get my head around the severity of the damage this will do. They have given ammunition to a dangerous man. What additional measures will now be taken to protect us?”
A parole hearing was due to take place earlier this month but was postponed until at least late January before the mistake was realized.
Bragg said: “I was on a high when I was told the hearing had been delayed. They had allayed the fear of what was going to happen. I was sure – we were safe for six weeks. It has been lost on this. I Can’t concentrate, I can’t sleep. How can you trust a criminal justice system that can’t get the basics right?”
Bragg campaigned for the parole hearing to be held in public but Caroline Corby, chair of the Parole Board for England and Wales, ruled that Jones’ mental health problems could be exacerbated by a public hearing.
Bragg said: “Their privacy has been flagged up as an essential human right and fully respected. Yet there has been a complete failure to get the same level for my rights. It makes my human rights, not for the first time, seem incompatible with the criminal justice system. .”
Liz Saville Roberts, leader of Plaid Cymru in Westminster and MP for North Wales, said: “It is appalling that sensitive information about Rhiannon’s mental health was given to her abductor.
“The criminal justice system has effectively collaborated in enabling this violent abuser’s continued control and means of inflicting emotional trauma on his victim through this negligence.
“Rhianon shows tremendous courage in highlighting the disparity of firearms between victims and the state’s enforcement of the rights of criminals. The decision to conduct the offender’s parole hearing in private should be reversed, as it is clear that justice needs to be seen as a matter of public interest.
Bragg, a clergyman’s daughter, began a relationship with Jones, a mechanic, after moving into her family’s small house in Rosgadfan, Gwynedd.
During a five-year relationship, Jones, now 58, repeatedly verbally abused and physically assaulted her, and when she ended the relationship in 2019, he began stalking and threatening her. She also reported to the police that he was threatening her children. During this time Jones was arrested and his licensed firearms confiscated, but no further action was taken and his weapons were returned.
In August 2019 he attacked Bragg and held him at gunpoint for eight hours overnight. She manages to escape by telling him that she has to attend a doctor’s appointment. The police were called and in February 2020 Jones was booked for stalking, false imprisonment, threats to kill and possession of a weapon.
An MoJ spokesman said: “The Government has made significant changes in recent years to better protect victims of abuse so we are deeply sorry for this unacceptable error and the distress it has caused Ms Bragg. We take this type of error extremely seriously and an investigation is underway to understand what happened.”
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