Ruling that could free Hindley

Britain's most notorious murderers could be freed from prison following a decision by a key Home Office panel that jailing anyone for their whole life is unfair.

The ruling could provide crucial ammunition for murderers like Myra Hindley and Rosemary West to argue they should be released before they die.

It also means judges in future cases are likely to be banned from ordering that a killer must perish behind bars.

The ruling by the Sentencing Advisory Panel was immediately condemned by MPs and victims' groups.

All murderers are sentenced to 'life' imprisonment, but for most the judge currently sets a 'tariff' or minimum term they must serve before being considered for release.

However, around 25 of the country's worst killers have been given a 'whole life' minimum term.

Now the Sentencing Advisory Panel has said such treatment is fundamentally unfair, as no one knows how long a prisoner will live, and therefore serve behind bars.

In a 16-page document entitled 'Advice to the Court of Appeal' the committee says: 'It is hard to see how a "whole life" term can properly be regarded as proportionate to the seriousness of the crime.'

It says the worst killers should normally expect to serve 30 years before being considered for release.

In the very worst cases, the judge should refuse to set any minimum term.

But that would not mean, as it does now, that the inmate is never released.

Instead, a spokesman for the panel said, it would mean the Home Secretary would decide when a killer's case is referred to the Parole Board, whose job is simply to rule on when a murderer is no longer a threat to the public.

It was the Parole Board which decided the killers of toddler James Bulger were safe to be let out last year. Home Secretary David Blunkettwas powerless to overruleit.

Advisory Panel rulings must be considered by the Lord Chief Justice - currently Lord Woolf - when drawing up guidelines for judges.

If, as expected, he now bans judges from condemning killers to die in jail, that will not automatically invalidate sentences already given.

But it will provide crucial assistance to killers like Myra Hindley in long-running battles for freedom.

Hindley, who with fellow Moors Murderer Ian Brady, was jailed for the torture and murders of three children, has repeatedly challenged her sentence.

Other killers told they must die in jail include Rose West, jailed for life in 1995 for the murder of ten women including her own daughter, and Donald Neilson, the 'Black Panther' jailed in 1976 for abducting and murdering heiress Lesley Whittle and three subpostmasters.

Also likely candidates are serial killers Dennis Nilsen - who killed and dismembered at least six men - and Colin Ireland, who slew five in a deliberate bid for infamy.

The panel said minimum terms for less serious murders should also be reduced, cutting that for an 'average' murder from 14 years to 12.

Last night Winnie Johnson, whose 12-year-old son Keith Bennett was the third victim of the Moors Murderers, said: ' It is disgusting and absolutely ridiculous that a ruling could allow killers like Hindley and Brady to even think about going free.

'If you deliberately kill someone you should know you are going to jail for your whole life.'

Former Conservative Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe said: 'The whole point of a life sentence is that you keep the authority to decide when someone is safe to go free.'

Another murderer has already begun a case which could see lifers like Hindley freed. Dennis Stafford jailed for a 1967 clubland slaying, has launched a court challenge to the right of Home Secretaries to decide how long murderers should serve.

He is thought likely to succeed at the European Court of Human Rights.

Time to free Hindley?