Wayne Bell was just (17 when he was locked up for robbery - he punched another lad and took his bike in Ladybarn Park in south Manchester.
He was sentenced in March 2007 and today, more than 12 years on, he is yet to be set free.
It was his misfortune that he was among the first convicts to be handed a new type of sentence - since discredited and abolished as 'unjust'.
In 2005, the then Home Secretary David Blunkett introduced Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences (IPP).
The public, press and even some judges - confronted with this new tool - struggled to understand them at first.
Those who got them were handed minimum terms, often only of a few years, after which they had to convince the Parole Board they were safe to be released.
The problem was that IPP prisoners weren't given access to courses so they could prove they were rehabilitated. After doing all the courses and good behaviour the family question the government failings.
Wayne Bell was one of them.
He was handed the youth equivalent of an IPP (a Detention for Public Protection sentence for stealing a bike ? at Manchester Crown Court and was told he would have to serve four years before the Parole Board would consider his release. It is thought he asked for a string of other crimes to be taken into consideration though minor to the rest of the population
Successive Parole Board hearings deemed that Wayne, now aged 29, couldn't be managed safely in the community and so he has remained in custody ever since. As he has lost hope, he has got involved with fights defending himself in prison. And with each fight, his chance of impressing the Parole Board diminishes.
Some 8,711 IPP sentences were dished out between 2005 and 2012, contributing to a huge rise in the prison population.
But some, relatively petty offenders, like Wayne Bell, were caught in the net - and may never escape it.
'Life for 'taxing' a bike
Your average prisoner serves half their sentence. That means Wayne has served the equivalent of a 24 year sentence, longer than many killers, rapists, major drug dealers, paedophiles and organised criminals.
To compare, John Worboys, the 'black cab' rapist who sexually assaulted 12 women in London, was jailed in 2009. He would have been released this year by the Parole Board, had victims not complained.
Meanwhile, Brian Reader, the career criminal who masterminded the £14m Hatton Gardens jewellery heist, was released last summer - after just three years behind bars.
Seven years ago IPPs were abolished on the back of a European Court ruling that they breached human rights - on the grounds that prisons had failed to provide inmates access to the rehabilitation courses required to demonstrate to the Parole Board that they were safe to be released.
But the abolition wasn't retrospective, so today, even though more and more are being released, there remain 2,489 prisoners still locked up on IPP sentences.
Wayne Bell's case is all the more unusual because he was, in the eyes of the law, still a child when he got his IPP.
With any hope he might be finally let go ebbing away with each passing year, Wayne became a problem prisoner.
Once a strapping 6ft 2in lad of about 15 stone, he has lost a lot of weight and is all skin and bone now, according to his family.
His family, who haven't seen him since before Christmas, invited an M.E.N. reporter into their home in Burnage.
'He's never had a girlfriend, he's never had a life at all'
Carl Bell at his home in Burnage (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Wayne's dad Carl, who works at B&Q in Stockport, a softly spoken
"""man who has been worn down over the years in the face of a wall of bureaucracy, still hopes his lad will be freed one day.
He recalled the moment he saw his son was handed the sentence at Manchester Crown Court.
"I honestly thought he would be coming out. I thought he would be in there a couple of years. I didn't know he would be in there this long. It's a disgrace".
"Wayne has watched murderers and rapists come and go in and out of prison. He just hit someone and took their bike. The sentence really doesn't fit the crime," said Carl.
He went on: "He's never had a girlfriend. He's never had a life at all really. There are probably kids who have done the same as him but they had a chance in life, got married and had their own kids.
"It looks like he'll never have that chance. All his friends are married now and bringing up kids, even the ones who were giving him all that peer pressure at the time they were growing up."
Wayne, a bright and polite child who played the trumpet, wanted to become a mechanic, but started getting into trouble aged 14 or 15 while he was at Burnage High School. He was expelled.
He had 'got in with the wrong crowd' and committed crimes like stealing a TV and a games console, say his family.
His mother Diane Bell, 54, a community carer, said: "He was being a nuisance but nothing major. He did get in lots of trouble."
A passing police patrol witnessed him attacking another boy and then taking his bike, the crime which ended in his IPP. The trouble was that he had previous.
"At the start he actually thought he would be getting out soon. He went to the gym. He was hopeful and we were writing letter after letter to try and get him out. He thought we would be able to get him out. He was given hope and hope was taken away," said Carl.
He became a prison 'listener', an ear for new inmates to talk to and embarked on a course for car mechanics.
But he got involved in fights in prison. Other inmates knew he was vulnerable as an IPP prisoner and 'targeted' him, for instance by trying to take his toilet roll, his family say.
"He tried to defend himself and got sent down the block for it," according to Wayne's brother Carl, 32, a computer salesman.
"When people saw he was on an IPP they have targeted him because of if they got into trouble he was going to get into more trouble than they were because they were ordinary prisoners who couldn't get more time," said Carl.
Every two years he went before the parole board but each time he was turned down amid continuing concerns about whether he was safe to be released. His probation officer also thought he wasn't safe to be released, according to his family.
'I blame the system'
Withington MP Jeff Smith (Image: Manchester Evening News)
The family wrote to their local MP, Jeff Smith, who took up their case last year and received assurances from the Ministry of Justice that, although the parole process had been halted in Wayne's case, it would resume again.
"I am aware this is a very difficult time for you all and I would be grateful if you could keep me updates about any developments," the MP told the family.
"He's got to the stage now where he doesn't care anymore. He doesn't want to be here," said dad Carl, who went on: "I blame the system."
"I blame the government because they know what's going on.
He should be at home with us. It's the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about when you go to bed. It would be nice to see him live a little bit of life.
"He hit someone and took their bike, but the sentence really doesn't fit the crime."
Brother Carl added: "It's the hopelessness behind it. Every avenue we have been down there's always a block in the road... He didn't rape or murder anybody. That's what that sentence was for. There's very little of him left but we just want to have him home.
"He's said he doesn't want anything in life. He just wants a girlfriend and a job and a car. That's all."
Wayne has had four parole board hearings and officials have indicated on the last one he asked not to be released. His family say as far as they were concerned he was desperate to be freed.
A threat to society?
Within two years of introduction, 3,000 people were handed IPPs - far more than had been anticipated by the Home Office.
The Howard League, which campaigns for prison reform, concluded in 2013 that IPPs were 'poorly planned and implemented and resulted in unjust punishments, particularly those sentenced prior to 2008'. It urged the government to review IPP prisoners who remained behind bars.
It surveyed 103 senior prison governors and the vast majority reported IPPs had a negative impact on both prisoners and staff, in part because they didn't have the resources available to run rehabilitation courses required to demonstrate that inmates were safe to be released.
The parole board struggled to hear the increased number of hearings.
The prison population rose significantly.
The IPP was finally abolished in 2012 with the then Justice Secretary Ken Clarke stating the sentence had been 'inconsistent', used far more than intended and had proved 'unjust' for many recipien(Image: PA)
In 2017, Parole Board chairman Nick Hardwick told the justice committee of the House of Commons that IPP offenders were being released but that more than half were being recalled, sometimes only for minor breaches of the terms of their release.
Wayne Bell had been scheduled to go before another Parole Board hearing but it was cancelled last year due to concerns about his health.
A spokesman for the Parole Board said they could not comment on individual cases but added in a statement: "The role of the Parole Board in all cases - including prisoners sentenced to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) - is to determine if someone is safe to release.
The government keep using the word if safe" for decades but yet the government lets out Non IPP prisoners everyday who have committed more serious offences. IPP prisoners have committed minor crimes in comparison to the rest of the prison population and are lower risk of re offending but despite this numbers over IPP prisoners are over tariff by 5-10 years though they have done all that has been asked of them.. IPP prisoners have for far to long been branded by the government since the sentence began though the sentence was meant for particular type of offender . All prisoners are risk of reoffender but the government let non IPP prisoners out each day. We know the government caused this problem, not applying the courses this being a snap shot and that's why IPP prisoners got stuck there and the longer they was there more likely more trouble would greet them in the failing prisons.
The government are window dressing over the figures and we are tied of t the word, "We are making progress BUT In fact there is little change when you look at the amount of time the government had to deal with IPP prisoner problem this is seriously concerning and unreasonable to keep this up with the media.
Pumped with medication in prison- he doesn’t want to live.
Minister for Justice David Gauke
Ministry of Justice Rory Scott
"Why is this man in prison
still?
The Health of prisoner is fundamental.
Health care in prison is poor and has been extensively reported. This
young man has done his time over and over.
The length of time
he been in prison he is bound to get court up in these
violent prisons only to defend himself.
I ask would ask if this was your Son you would do everything in your power.
Ignoring letters from desperate families is not the answer this only down plays the problem and has previous this led to tragic circumstances of 16 IPP prisoners deaths though the true figures have not been made published.
Rory Scott did state if things got worse he would resign. Both have the answer and that' is a policy change. Back bone comes to mind but the need to use it !
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