First appeal against 'whole life' tariff

A convicted murderer has become the first to appeal against his “whole life tariff” prison sentence since the European Court of Human Rights ruled that such sentences could be in breach of human rights, reports the Telegraph.

The ruling, on an appeal by Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vintner and Peter Moore, was that for a life sentence to remain compatible with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review.

See our earlier blog for more details.

This appeal concerns Arthur Hutchinson, now aged 73, who is serving a whole life sentence for the murder in 1983 of three members of the same family, and the rape of a guest in the house. 

Hutchinson was originally sentenced to 18 years imprisonment but this was increased by the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, to a whole life tariff.

This is Hutchinson's second attempt to have his sentence overturned - with the first having been made five years ago. The Appeal Court at that time saw no reason to depart from the whole life tariff, says the Telegraph.

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