The North Wales headteacher, Neil Foden, who was jailed in July for 17 years for sexually abusing four girls, could leave prison earlier than initially thought. In a letter sent to the Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Foden, can in fact be released after serving just half his sentence – not the two-thirds indicated by a judge at his sentencing hearing.
Ms Saville Roberts said the disclosure would alarm Foden’s victims as they “live in fear” of his early release from prison. In July, Foden, 66, from Old Colwyn, Conwy, was jailed for 17 years for sexually abusing four girls over a four-year period.
The teacher joined Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd, as a deputy head in 1989, becoming headteacher in 1997. He was also strategic head of Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle secondary school in Penygroes. Sentencing him at Mold Crown Court, Judge Rhys Rowlands said he was “arrogant” and “domineering” with “perverted desires”.
In the letter to Ms Saville Roberts, CPS deputy chief crown prosecutor in Wales Huw Rogers explained that only prisoners who have committed offences which can carry life imprisonment sentences are kept in prison for two thirds of their sentence. Defendants sentenced for offences which have a maximum sentence less than life imprisonment are released after half of their sentence.
The CPS letter sought to clarify the law in respect of release dates, and did not state the sentence was wrong: while release dates are set by statute, sentencing is a matter for the judiciary. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.
Mr Rogers added: “During the sentencing hearing, the judge said that Mr Foden would serve two thirds of his sentence in custody before he would be released. This was incorrect. Mr Foden will serve half of his sentence in custody, at which point he will be released on licence.
“In the case of Neil Foden, the maximum sentence that could have been imposed for the most serious of his offences was 14 years’ impisonment. Therefore, he will be released after half of his sentence has been served in custody. Although the judge made reference at the time of the sentencing hearing to the point at which he anticipated that the defendant would be released, this is not a factor that can be taken into account when determining the length of the sentence.”
Raising the issue in Westminster, Ms Saville Roberts highlighted the concerns of Foden's victims. The Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP requested a meeting with Justice Minister Alex Davies Jones to “discuss how to safeguard the victims, whose abuser was in a position of trust, because they live in fear of his early release”.
Foden was first remanded in custody on November 23, 2023, and the time he spent locked up prior to his trial and sentencing will count towards his prison term. At the July hearing, the judge also imposed a lifetime sexual harm prevention order and a 10-year restraining order prohibiting Foden from contacting his victims.
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary was approached for a response. Last month, North Wales Police said it was investigating two new grooming and sexual abuse cases involving Foden.
