A MOTHER is campaigning to get her son released from prison after he was jailed almost 20 years ago at the age of 17.

Luke Ings, now 35, was jailed in 2006 after for two robberies and two common assaults after an incident at a McDonalds restaurant in Bracknell.

However, almost 20 years later, Mr Ings still has not been released. He is what is known as an IPP prisoner—imprisoned for public protection – and has been given an indeterminate sentence due to several incidents that have occurred during his imprisonment.

READ MORE: Fraudster landscaper avoids jail after taking deposits but not doing the work

But Mr Ing’s mother, Sam, explains her son has been diagnosed with autism by a consultant forensic psychiatrist and that he needs mental support which he is not receiving in the prison.

She is urging the prison system to release him from HMP Prison Wakefield so he can be rehabilitated in society.

“People cannot believe he’s there 18 years later,” she said. “We get these prison reports that state that because of his behaviour there they cannot release him.

“When you get these reports from the prison it’s what they want to write down and everyone believes them but no one bothers to go and speak to Luke and find out what is going on.

READ MORE: Man jailed after robbing two teenagers in underpass

“He doesn’t know his trigger points with autism. There’s more mental health support for him out here than in there.”

Miss Ings said her other children were aged two and 10 when Mr Ings was jailed. They are now 20 and 28 respectively and are close with their brother but had not known him well as children as a result of the IPP.

Bracknell MP James Sunderland has visited Mr Ings in prison and has made pleas in Parliament to release him.

In a statement online, MP Sunderland said: “I suggest to the Minister that we need to review IPP prisoners to ensure that we are not locking people up beyond the point at which they have be locked up. Luke Ings has done his time; let us please release him.”

Miss Ings described her son as a ‘gentle giant’ and is worried about his mental wellbeing if he is kept imprisoned for much longer.

He is due to have a probation meeting imminently to discuss a potential release to a halfway house in Reading.

“He feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “He feels like it will never end.

"He said the probation meeting is the closest he’s ever been to being released so I know he will be so down if it doesn’t happen.

“People always ask me how I cope but this has been my life for 18 years. He’s my favourite child – he was my learning curve.

“I know you shouldn’t have favourites but I grew up with him, when you have your first child it turns you into an adult.

READ MORE: Teenager raped in a Wokingham car park treated as 'priority investigation'

“I don’t cope…but I do cope.”

A banner recently appeared over Mill Lane in Bracknell reading: “Free Luke Ings”. Miss Ings does not know who did it but said: “Thank you, whoever you are.”

A spokesperson from The Ministry of Justice said: "We have already reduced the number of IPP prisoners by three-quarters, having abolished the sentence in 2012, and we will continue to help those still in custody to progress towards release. But public protection must be our priority.

“Decisions on the release of prisoners serving IPP sentences are made by the independent Parole Board.”