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Grand Chamber to review whole life sentence of notorious killer (4 June 2015)

Date: 04/06/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Grand Chamber to review whole life sentence of notorious killer

The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to re-examine the whole life sentence of one of the UK’s most notorious killers, Arthur Hutchinson.

The court at Strasbourg earlier this year upheld life sentences for those who have committed the most heinous crimes, saying that “life means life”.

However, Hutchinson claims that his life sentence without release breaches his human rights. A panel of five judges has agreed that Hutchinson’s case can be reviewed in the Grand Chamber of the court, the Daily Mail reports.

Hutchinson had asked for his case to be reconsidered on an “exceptional basis”. He is now 74 years old and was jailed after stabbing a bride’s parents and brother to death on her wedding night in 1983.

Conservative MP Tory MP Philip Davies has called the decision to allow Hutchinson an appeal “perverse” – and no details as to why Hutchinson’s case has been referred to the Grand Chamber of the European Court have been released.

“To suggest that these criminals should not have to spend the rest of their lives in prison is perverse and an affront to the victims of those crimes,” said Mr Davies.


The new Justice Secretary Michael Gove has responsibility for replacing the European Court of Human Rights with a British Bill of Rights.

The previous Justice Secretary Chris Grayling had pledged that the Conservatives would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights if the Conservatives won the General Election.

If the UK’s Human Rights Act is scrapped, the Supreme Court in Britain would replace Strasbourg as the highest appeal court – meaning decisions made in British courts could not be overruled by the European Court of Human Rights.

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