Court of Appeal judges uphold whole-life prison terms as legal

The Court of Appeals ruled that whole-life prison terms can be given by judges for exceptionally serious offences.

15:40 18 February 2014

A group of Britain’s top judges have backed the principle of whole-life prison terms for exceptionally serious offences despite European warnings.

Under the current law, offenders who were sentenced to life in prion will never be eligible for release or parole review unless otherwise decided by the justice secretary.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said: "Judges should therefore continue as they have done to impose whole-life orders in those rare and exceptional cases".

The European Court had stated that whole-life terms violated human rights.

The UK court’s ruling, which was announced on Tuesday, was welcomed by the attorney general and the justice secretary. Sentencing in a number of high profile criminal cases had been put on hold pending judgment.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who was pleased with the ruling, said: "Today's judgment gives the clarity our judges need when they are considering sentencing cases like this in the future.”

Whole-life tariffs are a relative rarity in the UK – currently only 53 inmates are serving them including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Moors Murderer Ian Brady. The only fdemale serving a whole-life tariff currently is Rosemary West.