Photograph by Dan Perry
The UK Court of Appeal has backed the principle of whole-life prison sentences in two cases involving murderers, despite a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that such terms should be reviewed.
In July 2013, the ECHR in Strasbourg ruled that a whole-life sentence without the possibility of review breached prisoners’ human rights after an appeal by murderers Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vinter and Peter Moore. The court accepted that there were occasions when a person should spend the remainder of their life behind bars, but they said that everyone should have the hope of freedom with the possibility of review after 25 years.
However, the Court of Appeal increased murder Ian McLoughlin’s jail term from 40 years to a whole life sentence, and dismissed an appeal by murder Lee Newell that claimed his whole-life sentence was “manifestly excessive”.
The sentencing for a number of murder trials, including the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, had been put on hold until a ruling was made by the Court of Appeals.
