A VOICE on behalf of the victims of crime will be heard at a meeting of Lancashire Probation Board in Burnley.

The meeting at Burnley Town Hall next Tuesday is open to members of the public. It starts at 10am.

Julie Young, area manager for Victim Support Lancashire, will talk about the work of the organisation and how it operates in partnership with the probation service to help victims of crime.

The role of the national probation service law enforcement agency working in the interests of victims of violent and sexual crime has grown since April.

Now victims in cases where an offender is jailed for 12 months or longer are contacted by the probation service and told how the offender is progressing through their sentence and what happens on release.

Until April, the law limited probation's contact to more serious violent and sexual offence cases where offenders were jailed for four years or more.