Society’s most depraved killers will face life behind bars with
no chance of being released, under tough plans announced by the
Prime Minister.
Making sure that life means life, judges will be required to hand
down mandatory whole-life orders to the monsters who commit the
most horrific types of murder.
In the latest move to protect the public from the most dangerous
offenders, this will place a legal expectation on judges to hand
down whole life orders, except in extremely limited
circumstances.
By putting this on a legal footing, judges will have greater
confidence to hand out whole-life orders without a risk of
challenge in the Courts of Appeal.
This will mean the depraved killers who carry out vile crimes
will be in no doubt that they will be in prison for the rest of
their lives.
For the first time, whole life orders will also be the default
sentence for any sexually motivated murders. This could have been
applied in the recent tragic cases of Zara Aleena and Sabina
Nessa, putting their horrific killers in prison for their whole
lives.
Prime Minister said:
I have shared the public’s horror at the cruelty of crimes we
have seen recently. People rightly expect that in the most
serious cases, there should be a guarantee that life will mean
life. They expect honesty in sentencing.
By bringing in mandatory whole life orders for the heinous
criminals who commit the most horrific types of murder, we will
make sure they never walk free.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, KC, said:
A whole life order will now be the expectation for murderers
where the killing involves sexual or sadistic conduct.
This important law change will ensure that the worst of the worst
can now expect to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Today’s announcement builds on the Government’s work to cut crime
and build stronger communities, with violent crime down by 46
percent since 2010 and neighbourhood crime by 51 percent.
Since 2019, over 20,000 new police officers have been recruited
and 100,000 knives taken off our streets. The Government has also
launched a new Anti-Social Behaviour Plan to clamp down on crimes
that can terrorise communities for good.
The Government is also making sure the worst offenders face the
toughest possible punishment for their crimes.
Serious violent and sexual offenders now serve at least
two-thirds of their sentence behind bars, ending halfway release,
and the average custodial sentence length is longer across the
board meaning that criminals are spending more time in prison.
The Government has also ended the automatic early release of
terrorists through the Terrorist Offenders Act 2020 and
introduced a 14-year minimum jail term for the most dangerous
terrorist offenders through the Counter Terrorism and Sentencing
Act 2021.
The Government is also committed to looking at changing the law
to make sure that people who commit the most horrific crimes face
their victims in court and hear first-hand the impact that their
crimes have had on them and their families and loved ones.
The Government will legislate for the changes announced today in
due course.
