In January 2026, the Offender Database reported that Darren Mackrell, 58, of Southampton, Hampshire, is facing a significant parole hearing that could determine his release back into the community. Mackrell was then 45 at the time he was handed an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) at Winchester Crown Court in September 2012, after carrying out what a judge described as a “truly abhorrent” campaign of sexual violence against three young children.
The court heard that in April 2012, Mackrell befriended two boys, aged eight and 10, and a nine-year-old girl in a park before luring them to his flat in Wilton Avenue, Southampton. Over a six-hour ordeal, the paedophile drugged the children with a cocktail of cannabis, amphetamines, temazepam, and Viagra. He then repeatedly raped all three children and forced them to engage in sexual activity with each other while he watched. To ensure their compliance, Mackrell played hardcore pornographic films and threatened them with a large hunting knife. The abuse only ended when the mother of one of the boys tracked them to the flat; police who arrived on the scene reported seeing pornography playing through the letterbox before forcing entry.
Mackrell admitted to 18 charges, including child rape, sexual assault, causing children to engage in sexual activity, and administering drugs to facilitate a sexual offence. At his 2012 sentencing, Judge Gary Burrell QC remarked that Mackrell had “plumbed the depths of human depravity” and set a minimum tariff of 10 years, warning that he might never be released if he remained a danger. A pre-sentence report at the time stated that his risk to children “could not be overstated.”
As of early 2026, Mackrell is being held in a Category D ‘open prison’, having been transferred there in September 2023 at the recommendation of the Parole Board. His minimum tariff expired in April 2022, and he has since been eligible for review of his release. In April 2025, a judicial member of the Parole Board denied an application for his hearing to be held in public, citing the potential for “undue emotional stress and re-traumatisation” of the victims. His current hearing, scheduled for January 2026, will decide if he can be safely managed on licence in the community.
Should the Parole Board direct his release, Darren Mackrell will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life. He would be managed under the highest level of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in Hampshire. His release would be subject to a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and strict licence conditions, which would include exclusion zones, electronic monitoring, and a permanent ban on any contact with children or the use of unsupervised internet access.
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