'End automatic life sentence for killing'

Britain's top prosecutor today called for new murder laws to end automatic life sentences for "less serious" killings.

Ken Macdonald urged an American-style system where murders are graded.

The most serious - including contract killings, terrorist attacks and premeditated murder - would still attract automatic life terms.

But lesser degree killings, such as woman who "snaps" and kills a violent partner, would attract shorter prison sentences.

Mr Macdonald, a former defence barrister who has represented a number of murderers, said he believed some killers were getting away unpunished because the current law was not flexible enough. In an interview with The Times he says: "I am strongly in favour of a system that recognises degrees of homicide.

"There should be degrees of homicide, not just murder or manslaughter, but three or four degrees."

At present, all murders carry an automatic sentence of life imprisonment.

"In reality, the average term served is around 12 years because less serious offenders are released early."

Judges say the rules force them to treat all people convicted of murder in the same way, regardless of whether they are serial killers or have helped a terminally ill loved one to die. In addition, said Mr Macdonald, Britain's 3,000 prosecutors often faced a serious dilemma when deciding whether to charge someone with murder or the lesser offence of manslaughter.

In some cases prosecutors have pressed for a murder conv ic t ion rather than a manslaughter verdict, only to lose the case and see the suspect walk free.

Plans to hold a major review of the laws on murder were announced by former Home Secretary David Blunkett in October last year, but have yet to be taken any further by the Government. Mr Macdonald's intervention is likely to revive the idea.

A damning report by the Law Commission said current legislation was "a mess" and that automatic life sentences should be rethought because of the "depth of discontent" about them.

Mr Macdonald stressed that murderers who set out to kill their victim should always be jailed for life.

"If we are talking about a serious homicide killing with an intention to kill, that should attract a mandatory life sentence," he said.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are still committed to the murder review. An announcement of its terms of reference will be made in due course.

"Whatever happens there will be no compromise on a mandatory life sentence for murder and the murder principle as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 will continue to stand."