EXCLUSIVE: The family of murdered Maya Chappell, of Shotton Colliery, County Durham, say restrictions on the type of offenders who could be released early from jail “don’t go far enough”
A mum who allowed her partner to murder her toddler could be eligible for early release from prison.
But Maya Chappell’s family has hit out at the move, arguing it will leave them suffering more pain. Dana Carr was jailed for nine years for child cruelty and allowing the death of her daughter Maya, two, who was shaken to death by Carr’s partner Michael Daymond. Daymond was jailed for life following the senseless attack.
But Carr could now be up for early release as part of the government’s controversial scheme. Maya’s great-aunt Gemma Chappell told the Mirror this move “completely takes victims right back”.
Around 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes part of the scheme to tackle overcrowding in jails. This is down from 6,000 after the government announced that rapists and child sex offenders would be exempt from early release, after a review of the policy was ordered by Andy Burnham shortly after he became Prime Minister.
Gemma said her sister received an email from Prison Services around three weeks ago which said the early releases could potentially impact their family and Carr’s early release. The great-aunt said: “I didn’t think it was going to affect us because I thought surely they’ll not let such a serious offence cause doubt and I was so wrong.”
Carr had left Maya in Daymond’s sole care on September 28, 2022, before the girl collapsed when he fiercely shook her. The partner – who had been with Carr for just nine weeks – had learned his Universal Credit had been stopped before he attacked the little girl, in County Durham. She died in hospital two days later as a result of a “constellation” of injuries, having never regained consciousness, a court heard.
Daymond was found guilty of murdering Maya and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years. He was never eligible for release under the sentencing act.
Great-aunt Gemma said she welcomed the move to block rapists and child sex offenders but was furious at the potential release of Carr and said “they shouldn’t stop there”. Gemma told the Mirror: “They should continue to be under review about offenses that are committed that are serious. And there’s still victims and families out there who face this reality that the person responsible, such as Dana Carr, who was who was charged with causing and allowing the death of a child and child neglect.”
Gemma revealed the decision has impacted Maya’s dad James and said: “She [Carr] knew it was going on, but did nothing to protect Maya, because she was so obsessed about this guy, and she’s going to be released. I mean, that’s unimaginable. And the harm that that’s going to cause to our family, to James… it’s ridiculous that that’s going to happen.”
Carr lost an appeal to reduce her sentence, in 2025, as judges said the original sentence was “severe, but was not wrong in principle or manifestly excessive”. Gemma said before the appeal her family had asked for Carr’s sentence to be extended.
On this, Gemma told the Mirror: “It just completely takes victims right back, it takes James back, it takes us back. We’ve not been heard. It was great that we got that answer when she went to that High Court. That gave us some alleviation, and we realised then that we can try and get through our trauma knowing that she’s going to serve at least nine years.”
She added : “That’s coming at the cost and the safety of the public and at victims. And, victims voices are not being heard… It just hasn’t gone far enough – they haven’t listened to other victims with regards to this.”
Justice Secretary Alex Norris, this morning on BBC Radio 4, said the government was directly engaging with families of victims but Gemma claimed this has not happened with her family.
She continued: “I’ve just heard the justice secretary saying ‘we’ve been speaking to victims’, no you haven’t because you haven’t spoken to us. You haven’t asked us, what you’ve done is you’ve told us.” Gemma said her sister received a call from the government yesterday to again inform them that Carr was eligible for early release.
The great-aunt said: “There’s still victims of families out there who face this reality that the person responsible, such as Dana Carr… and she’s going to be released. That’s unimaginable and the harm that’s going to cause, it’s just ridiculous that that’s going to happen.”
Gemma also called on the government to carry on looking into the release scheme and said: “I think they should still be reviewing this. How can they review it within a week? That’s ridiculous.”
The two-year-old’s family has been fighting for the government to pass Maya’s Law, which would involve sharing information to a parent or guardian where a child is at risk due to a parent or caregiver’s known history. Gemma said the release scheme “strengthens Maya’s Law” to “protect and put that preventive measure for these vulnerable children”.
The Mirror has reached out to the Ministry of Justice for comment.