Iain Macpherson says prison was awful – but making a life for himself on the outside is all but impossible
Howard Lloyd Regional content editor
13:06, 04 Jan 2026Updated 15:38, 04 Jan 2026
Iain Macpherson has spent a large part of his life behind bars
A man who served 22 years in prison says he’d rather go back than try to get a job or a home on the outside. Iain Macpherson, 54, was handed two life sentences with a 12-year minimum term for crimes including murder in February 1992.
Iain, originally from Harrow, London, says he was moved around 22 prisons before being released in October 2014. At 41, Iain went to a hostel in Ealing, London, designed to help prisoners reintegrate into society, before moving in with his then-girlfriend in Bedford.
Iain says he spent three years trying to land jobs in home refurbishment and personal training – applying at eight Job Centres without success. He claims even staff said there was “no point” in his applying for work, and he struggled to get affordable insurance on a vehicle to go self-employed due to his criminal record.
After splitting from his girlfriend, Iain started sleeping on a sofa bed in his mum’s flat in Hertfordshire in late 2016. He developed anxiety and a bad back, which makes it difficult for him to secure work now. However, in 2023, he had to move out of his mum’s place and now flits between sofa surfing and accumulating debt, staying in hotels.
Iain says he sees no way of making it on the outside
Iain said he’d like to be sent back to jail so he can get a roof over his head – even though he hated being behind bars. Iain, who is out of work and currently living in Hertford, Hertfordshire, said: “It would be easier just to be back inside, but without having to commit any crime.
“Prison is horrible, and the food is disgusting, but at least I’d have a roof over my head. It’s unsustainable for me in the real world I’m a huge burden on family, friends, and my fragile bank account – at least in prison I’d get secure accommodation and access to legal aid.
“It’s impossible out here unless I’ve committed an offence and I’m not willing to cross that line. Nobody wants to lose their liberty but with a solicitor and less stress I might get somewhere.
“If you’ve got a record like this you can’t escape it, no matter how much time has passed. When people find out about it you can see it in their eyes – that moment ends the relationship you had.
“I’d go for a job and say I have a conviction, as soon as they learn my conviction is for murder that’s it – no job. It’s impossible, so I’ve asked my probation officer just to recall me, but they said ‘no’.”
Iain Macpherson was handed two life sentences with a 12-year minimum term for crimes including murder in February 1991
Iain pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and guilty to one robbery and one burglary, at London’s Central Crown Court. He was convicted of all charges but the attempted murder, which was dropped, in February 1991 – after a two-week trial under joint enterprise.
Joint enterprise is where a person can be convicted if they planned or were present at a crime, helped or encouraged the perpetrator, even if they did not commit the criminal act themselves. His then 29-year-old accomplice pleaded guilty to the same charges as Iain, and also got two life sentences.
Iain said: “I got in with the wrong guy and this all happened before I really knew what was going on. I seemed quite mature but was emotionally very young.
“We were reasonably comfortable and I’d had a private school education. This just goes to show that anyone can get on the wrong path and it’s very very hard to come back.”
Iain had left school at the age of 15 and worked with his dad in refurbishing. In prison, Iain says he got qualifications in gardening, first aid, IT, and personal training, a GCSE in physiology, and GCSEs and A-levels in maths and history.
He went through many prisons, including Brixton, Gartree, Parkhurst, Maidstone, Sweelside, and Woodhill. He said: “I was young and impressionable, and I met gangsters, terrorists, cannibals, necrophiliacs – all sorts, it was very frightening.”
Iain was among 20 other former prisoners in the hostel in Ealing for six months, from October 2013 to April 2014, all of whom were looking for work.
He said: “It’s ridiculous. Everyone in the area knows where you’re from and why you’re living there, and they don’t give you any work. They call it rehab or reintegration but it isn’t at all. You’re not supposed to be in contact with other ex prisoners but you’re sent to live all together in a hostel.”
At the Job Centre Iain says he was told they wouldn’t be able to find him work with his conviction so to go self-employed. He said: “They said because of the length and nature of my conviction they wouldn’t be able to get me anything, even packing boxes.
“It made sense, if I was employing people and I had the choice I wouldn’t choose the person with a life conviction. Even when I got convicted I believed that murderers deserved capital punishment. Even though people with longer sentences are far less likely to reoffend.”
Iain gave up on trying to go self-employed when he was quoted £9,800 per year to be insured on his girlfriend’s Kia Picanto car – itself worth only £2,000, he claims. He said: “I asked why it was so high and they said it was my conviction.
“They said it would go down when my conviction was spent, but it never will be. As a private personal trainer I wouldn’t have to tell people I have a conviction, but I wouldn’t get any clients without being able to drive.
“I tried using public transport but it was impossible. It was all very depressing and I gave up looking for work and learning to drive.”
Iain said he can’t get help with housing from the council because they said he is voluntarily homeless. Iain now receives Universal and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), but he cannot afford to rent privately and cannot obtain a reference, he says.
He says he has back problems and gets anxiety, so he can’t work now. He recently took out a £1,000 loan to stay in a hotel. Iain said: “Having a conviction for life makes it impossible to fit in anywhere.
“As soon as the local community find out about it nobody wants you there any more. People would rather cross the road than speak to me.”
Since his release, Iain has been on probation and will be for the rest of his life. He missed three appointments in a ploy to be recalled to prison but it did not work.
He said: “I literally can’t get a foot in the door. I’ve not had a home since I was 19, how can I be intentionally homeless? I’m basically tarred, and I can’t blame people, it’s just how it is.”