Andy Burnham may have more prison spaces to spare than anticipated, raising hopes that ministers could scale back the early releases of killers and rapists, official data suggest. Prison experts suggest this could give the Prime Minister the "wriggle room" to exempt some categories of the more serious violent and sexual offenders from Labour's controversial early release scheme. Mr Burnham paused the scheme last week after an outcry sparked by The Telegraph's revelation that two of Pc Andrew Harper's killers were eligible for early release halfway through their 13 year sentences for manslaughter rather than two-thirds. "I would favour exemptions for sexual offenders, violent offenders, those convicted of domestic abuse and serious crimes like manslaughter." It meant there were nearly 4,000 more prison spaces than initially forecast.