Feeling a bit peaky? Well never mind you're a criminal, off you pop home

I have been appalled recently by two cases of people being released early from prison 'on compassionate grounds', i.e. because they're probably going to die quite soon. The first was Ronnie Bigs, the Great Train Robber, and the second today looks set to be Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber.

I fail to see why the fact that they received life sentences for their crimes no longer matters simply because they are ill. That's the whole point isn't it? You give someone a life sentence so that they live out the rest of their life in prison, because their crimes were so serious.

Ronnie Biggs being released is particularly galling. He was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the Great Train Robbery, but after 15 months he escaped from prison and then spent the next 30 years on the run. So as well as stealing £2.6m of money that wasn't his, he stole back 30 years of freedom that weren't his to live simply because he didn't feel like staying in prison, and probably had a lovely time living in Australia and Brazil feeling very smug. He only came back to the UK because he was getting old and wanted medical treatment! What the fuck?? Medical treatment that he's paid no taxes during his life to pay for!

And Ali al-Megrahi killed 270 people in a terrorist bombing, but now has prostate cancer. Well boo fucking hoo - that's 270 people who had their lives stolen from them, why should he enjoy even his last few months in freedom?

Being ill and being old do not negate your crimes. These people forfeited their right to freedom when they decided the law didn't apply to them; their sentence should be fully carried out and they should die in prison.