List of prisoners with life tariffs

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This is a list of prisoners who have received a whole life tariff through some mechanism in jurisdictions the United Kingdom.

1 Imposed by Home Secretaries
2 Sentenced by judges
3 See also
4 References

Imposed by Home Secretaries

Successive Home Secretaries are known to have imposed whole life tariffs for the following convicted murderers (note, this list is incomplete):

Name	Year	Notes
John Straffen	1952	Britain's longest serving prisoner who was convicted of murdering two pre-teen girls in 1951. The following year, he escaped for a four-hour period and murdered another girl during this short spell at large, although he has long proclaimed his innocence, and has had his case examined by justice campaigners who also believe his conviction is unsafe. Straffen was reprieved from a death sentence due to learning difficulties, and spent 55 continuous years in custody. Straffen died, having never been released, in Frankland prison in November 2007. From 2002 until his death, he was the oldest prisoner known to be serving a whole life tariff, following the death of Archibald Hall.
Ian Brady	1966	One of the Moors Murderers, who was convicted in May 1966 of murdering three children. With accomplice Myra Hindley, he buried the children in shallow graves on Saddleworth Moor. Two decades later, they admitted abducting and killing two more children, and Brady was taken back to the Moor to try to locate the graves, only one of which was found. Since 1985 he has been held in a mental hospital and although the November 2002 law lords' ruling means he could have been released by now (his tariff expired in October 2005), Brady has made it clear that he never wants to be released. If in the extremely unlikely event of Brady being released however, he would almost certainly be arrested, charged and convicted of the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. In 1966 he was jailed for three murders. Brady has been on long-term hunger strike in hospital, which has led to his being force-fed via a tube, and has had a book published on serial killing. The body of one of his victims, a 12 year old boy, remains undiscovered on the Moor, despite Brady and Hindley's own heavily-guarded efforts to locate the remains themselves. In 2006, Brady wrote to the missing child's mother to claim he remembered enough to be taken to within 20 yards of the grave but was not permitted to do so.^[1]
Myra Hindley	1966	The other of the Moors Murderers, Ian Brady's girlfriend and accomplice who was involved in all five murders with Brady, with two murder convictions and one as an accessory, as well as later admitting the murder of two more children later, only one of whom was subsequently found on the Moor. Hindley was given a 25-year minimum term by the trial judge, which was endorsed in 1982 by the Lord Chief Justice. Reports suggested that Hindley was rehabilitating in prison and had found religion and rejected Brady and her past, but nevertheless a strong sense of public feeling - plus the admission of the two further murders, one of which has yet to result in the discovery of a body - helped prompt her tariff to be increased to 30 years in 1988 and, finally, to a whole life tariff two years later. Hindley subsequently made three appeals against the whole life tariff and launched a further bid for freedom in 1996 when she had served 30 years, but all her efforts were rejected and she died in jail at the age of 60 in November 2002, less than two weeks before a law lords' ruling would probably have secured her freedom. Her case prompted more debate than that of any other prisoner of notoriety, with some high profile backing from the House of Lords, but vitriol from the Press and the public, as well as the families of her victims. Her death left only Rosemary West as a confirmed female prisoner serving a whole life tariff.
Donald Neilson	1976	The Black Panther, so-called for his penchant for wearing a black balaclava, shot dead three postmasters during robberies in various areas of the country, then abducted a 17-year-old heiress from her Shropshire home. He attempted to ransom the heiress, but her body was found two months later in a drain in Staffordshire. In 2008, Neilson lost an appeal to have his tariff reduced to 30 years.^[2]^[3]
Trevor Hardy	1976	Trevor Joseph Hardy murdered three girls between December 1974 and March 1976. Janet Lesley Stewart, 15, was murdered on New Year's Eve 1974 and buried in a shallow grave in Newton Heath, North Manchester. She had been stabbed. Wanda Skala, 17, was murdered in July 1975 on Lightbowne Road, Moston. She was hit over the head with a paving stone and sexually assaulted. Sharon Mosoph, 17, was murdered in March 1976, and dumped in the Rochdale Canal at Failsworth, Oldham. She had been strangled and mutilated after walking by when Hardy was attempting to burgle a shopping centre at night. He was suspected of committing other murders. At the height of the hunt for the serial killer, 23,000 people were stopped and searched. The case is not widely known and only one independent publication exists which covers the case. Trevor Hardy was arrested for the murders of Wanda Skala and Sharon Mosoph during 1976 and in August 1976. He confessed to the murders and to that of Janet Lesley Stewart - who until then had been a missing person. Despite the alibis provided by his girlfriend Sheilagh Farrow[3], Hardy was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Archibald Hall	1978	The Killer Butler or Monster Butler, so named as he committed his murders while working in service to members of the British aristocracy as a butler. Hall, also known as Roy Fontaine, was a Glaswegian thief and confidence trickster with numerous convictions and prison sentences by the time he committed his first murder, of an ex-cellmate, whom he shot and buried after an argument over some jewellery stolen from Hall's employer. Hall moved to London and began serving an elderly ex-MP and his wife, and with accomplice Michael Kitto, he killed and buried them both after late-night plans to rob them were disturbed. They then killed a female acquaintance and dumped her body in a barn after she refused to destroy a fur coat which was potentially incriminating evidence, and lastly Hall murdered his half-brother, a convicted child molester who was asking too many questions, before beginning a journey to Scotland with the intention of again burying the body. Having stopped at a hotel for the night when the weather became too hazardous for driving, Hall and Kitto were caught when the hotelier, concerned that two suspicious-looking guests may not pay their bill, called the police. They found the body in Hall's car boot, and Hall later showed them the three gruesome burial sites. After trials in London and Edinburgh, Hall received four life sentences and Kitto three, with one judge recommending that Hall should never be freed. This recommendation was upheld when the list of confirmed whole life tariff prisoners was published, and Hall was the eldest prisoner on the list. He publicly requested the right to die in 1995, and did so of a stroke in 2002, while still in prison. He was 78. Three years earlier, he had published his autobiography.
Peter Sutcliffe	1981	The Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered 13 women and attacked seven others between 1975 and 1980 across West Yorkshire, plus two in Greater Manchester. He was caught by chance while sitting in his car with a prostitute and potential victim in Sheffield, and made a full confession to each attack to the police, even though they'd only arrested him for having false number plates. Pleaded guilty to manslaughter but was convicted of 13 murders and was originally sentenced to a minimum of 30 years by his trial judge, but was later given a whole life tariff by the government and is now in a high security mental hospital after being declared criminally insane. Following the November 2002 law lords' ruling, Sutcliffe could one day be released from custody - possibly in 2011 when he turns 65, if the parole board decides he no longer presents a risk to the public. Sutcliffe remains a hate figure within the Press, with much criticism of the Home Office in 2005 when it emerged he had been allowed to visit the site where his late father's ashes had been scattered.
Dennis Nilsen	1983	An ex-policeman who dismembered and murdered 13 men at his home in North London, storing the body parts inside and around the flat, and was arrested after workmen investigating a blocked and odorous drain found human flesh. Nilsen's trial judge originally recommended a 25-year minimum sentence, but successive Home Secretaries decided that he should never be released from prison. The November 2002 law lords' ruling means that Nilsen could still be released from prison as early as 2008, by which time he will be 63 years old, if the parole board decides he is no longer a danger to the public. Nilsen has since been denied the right to publish his autobiography and some music and poetry from prison.
Arthur Hutchinson	1984	A fugitive who gatecrashed a wedding reception at a house in Sheffield shortly after the bride and groom had left and stabbed to death the bride's father, mother and brother, before raping her sister at knifepoint. Police quickly labelled him as the killer after identifying a handprint on a champagne bottle and a bitemark in a piece of cheese. He was already on the run from answering a charge of violent rape and had previous convictions for offences of violence, indecent assault and dishonesty. Now a pensioner, his trial judge recommended an 18-year tariff which expired in 2002 but he remains in prison, although he could be released any time now if the parole board decides he is no longer a danger to the public.
Jeremy Bamber	1986	Shot dead his adoptive parents, sister and six year old twin nephews at the family farmhouse in Essex in order to claim a six-figure inheritance while also laying evidence to suggest his sister, a schizophrenic, had committed four murders before killing herself. His trial judge said in sentencing him that he found the idea of ever seeing Bamber free again "difficult to foresee", and advised that he should serve at least 25 years behind bars before release could even be considered. Bamber has nonetheless spent his sentence continuously protesting his innocence, asking for support via a website he runs from prison and seeking new evidence to launch fresh appeals. Support for his case is increasing, including backing from his MP. He is the only whole life tariff prisoner who has not accepted guilt or culpability and was also the youngest such prisoner when the original list was published. Despite the law lords' ruling in November 2002, Bamber has been told by the Home Secretary that he will never be released.
Anthony Entwistle	1987	He murdered 16-year-old Michelle Calvy at Blackburn in 1987, within weeks of his release from a seven-year prison sentence imposed for sexually assaulting two women. He was found guilty of Michelle's murder at Preston Crown Court in 1988, sentenced to life imprisonment and is still behind bars after 20 years.^[3]
Victor Miller	1988	A predator who abducted, sexually assaulted and battered to death a 14-year-old boy from Hagley in Worcestershire. He confessed after being arrested for an unrelated crime and led detectives to the body. Police later revealed they believed Miller was responsible for almost 30 unsolved sexual assaults. In court, he confessed openly to the killing and asked for the maximum sentence available. Although he was set a tariff of 25 years which was re-activated after the November 2002 law lords' ruling, meaning he could be considered for release in 2013, Miller has asked the Home Office not to consider him for release at any point in the future, and therefore actively wishes to die in prison. Miller's trial judge had also expressed doubt as to whether it would be safe for him ever to be released.
John Duffy	1988	The Railway Killer, who attacked numerous women in the south of England, raping all of them and murdering three, before revolutionary psychological profiling helped police to catch him, although they got no nearer the accomplice they knew Duffy worked with. He was given a 30 year tariff for two murders and seven rapes which, after the law lords' ruling, was re-activated, meaning that he could be considered for release in 2018. After 12 years in prison, Duffy went on a conscience-clearing exercise, admitting to a third killing of which he'd been originally acquitted, and implicating schoolfriend David Mulcahy as his accomplice. He also revealed his part in countless other rapes, for which he received a further 12 years. After Duffy gave evidence against him, Mulcahy was given life sentences for three murders and seven rapes in 2001 but was not subjected to a whole life tariff because of the timing of his case in relation with the review.
Anthony Arkwright	1989	Hacked and battered to death three people including his grandfather in Yorkshire, aged 21, on a two-day killing spree.
Victor Castigador	1990	A Filipino illegal immigrant who led a gang of robbers on a grudge attack at a London amusement arcade where he himself worked. Four members of staff were tied up, locked in a cage within the vault before being doused in white spirit and set alight. Two died, two suffered serious burns. Castigador received an initial 25 year tariff from his trial judge which was duly extended to a whole life tariff, but the November 2002 law lords' ruling means that he could still be released from prison as early as 2015 (by which time he will be 61 years old) if the parole board decides he is no longer a danger to the public. One of his teenage accomplices was given a 20 year tariff and unsuccessfully appealed for this to be shortened.
Colin Ireland	1993	The Gay Slayer, who set about achieving a New Year's resolution to become a serial killer by targeting patrons of a public house frequented by gay men. Ireland pretended to be homosexual in order to be taken to each of his victims' homes, where he took advantage of their desire for S&M activity to truss, torture and murder them, often then robbing them to cover his travelling expenses as he was unemployed. He was able to continue as police found initial difficulty in linking the killings to one perpetrator, and was caught when, having visited police to explain away his sighting on closed-circuit TV with his final victim, his fingerprint was subsequently matched to one found at the man's flat. He confessed to the other murders while in custody and pleaded guilty to all charges in court. His original recommended tariff was never publicised.
Robert Black	1994	A pædophile who abducted, raped and killed three schoolgirls in the 1980s before dumping all three at roadsides hundreds of miles from their homes. He was already serving a life sentence for an attempted abduction when he was convicted of three murders (and one further abduction of a girl who survived) in 1994, and the trial judge recommended a minimum term of 35 years - which would make him ineligible for release until 2029 and the age of 82. He was later given a whole life tariff by the home secretary, although the November 2002 law lords' ruling means that he could still receive early release. Black has been long suspected of involvement in the disappearances of numerous other children in the 1970s and 1980s but questioning of him has proved inconclusive, no bodies have ever been found in these cases and the files remain open.
Rosemary West	1995	Convicted for the murder of ten women and girls at her home in Gloucester, including one of her daughters and a stepdaughter. Her husband, Frederick West, committed suicide in jail before standing trial for a total of 12 murders. Hindley's death left West as the only confirmed female prisoner on the whole life tariff register.^[3]
Harold Shipman	2000	Former GP who was convicted of killing 15 of his patients, all female, at his surgery in Hyde, Greater Manchester, in the 1990s, giving them lethal doses of morphine. Suspicion was raised when the daughter of his last victim found that Shipman had crudely forged her mother's will. Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the trial judge recommending that he should never be released, and two years later the Home Secretary agreed. An official inquiry in July 2002 concluded that there was enough evidence to decide that Shipman had killed 215 of his patients, making him Britain's most prolific serial killer. Some reports claimed that he may have committed around 460 murders. Shipman, who never accepted responsibility for his actions, hanged himself in his prison cell on 13 January 2004, the day before what would have been his 58th birthday, and the full extent of his crimes will probably be never known as a consequence.

Sentenced by judges

Since the European Court of Human Rights decision, only trial judges and the High Court have had the right to decide that a killer should never be released. In that time, there have been more than 20 reported instances of trial judges recommending that an offender should never be released. All but one of these has been convicted of murder.

Two of these killers have already appealed for the High Court to take a different view, but both have so far been unsuccessful. Two others have succeeded in their appeals, while a further two are currently appealing against both their convictions and their sentences. Two such inmates have since died in custody.

Name	Year	Notes
Paul Glen	2004	Glen was employed as a hitman and in 2004 had been hired to murder Vincent Smart, but instead he murdered Mr Smart's friend Robert Bogle^[4]. After his trial, it was revealed that Glen had a previous conviction for murder.^[4]
Andrezej Kunowski	2004	A Polish murderer who was imprisoned in England. Kunowski murdered a 12-year-old Macedonian girl, Katerina Koneva, in West London in 1997. Kunowski died in Frankland Prison on 23 September 2009.^[5]
Phillip Heggarty	2004	Convicted of murdering his friend, Derek Bennett, in a hammer attack in 2003.^[6] He later set fire to a Renault Laguna after placing Mr Bennett's body in it which was so severely brunt that it had to be identified by dental records.^[6]
Thomas McDowell	2004	A psychopath who strangled and cut up a gay trainee rabbi with a ripsaw. McDowell throttled Andreas Hinz, then dumped his head, limbs and torso in bin bags in Camden, north London. McDowell suffered abuse as a child and grew up hating homosexuals.
David Bieber	2004	An American fugitive who came to Britain from Florida in the mid 1990s after being suspected of ordering a murder, he shot dead PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds on Boxing Day 2003 and wounded two other officers. He was found guilty on a charge of murder and two charges of attempted murder and received a life sentence with a recommendation that life should mean life, but in July 2008 the High Court ruled that he could apply for parole after serving 37 years.
Mark Martin	2005	He killed three homeless women in Nottingham between December 2004 and January 2005, declaring his ambition to become "Nottingham's first serial killer".
Mark Hobson	2005	Murdered his girlfriend, her twin sister and an elderly couple in Yorkshire before going on the run with the whole nation's police looking for him. He was eventually arrested after being spotted hiding in bushes near a motorway service station. Pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the judge advising that his life sentence should mean exactly that. Hobson later appealed for a lower tariff to be set on the grounds that he merited some credit for admitting to the crimes in order to avoid a trial, but this was rejected by the Lord Chief Justice.
William Horncy	2005	Achieved notoriety in 2005 when he was convicted of murdering millionaire Amarjit Chohan as well as Chohan's wife, mother-in-law and two sons in an effort to take over the Chohan family freight business to ship drugs into the UK^[7]. The bodies of Chohan's two sons were never found.^[7]
Kenneth Regan	2005	Achieved notoriety in 2005 as he too was involved, with William Horncy, in the murder of millionaire Amarjit Chohan as well as Chohan's wife, mother-in-law and two sons, whose bodies were never found^[7]. He was a former drugdealer, who turned to being a Police supergrass to gain himself early release from prison for a prior crime^[8]. He murdered Amarjit Chohan and his family in an effort to take over the Chohan family freight business to ship drugs into the UK.^[7]
Paul Culshaw	2005	A British convicted murderer and sex offender. In 2005, he was found guilty of murdering Clare Benson-Jowry, who had died in 2004. After his trial, it was revealed that Culshaw had previous convictions for crimes including rape, attempted murder and indecent assault.
Glyn Dix	2005	Found guilty of murdering his wife Hazel, having stabbed her to death and chopped her body into 16 pieces at their home in Redditch, Worcestershire in the previous year. It was then revealed that he had already been out of prison on life licence following a previous conviction for murdering Pia Overbury in the 1970s.
Daniel Gonzalez	2006	A drug addict, inspired by horror films, who stabbed to death four randomly-chosen people (including three pensioners) over a 24 hour period and tried to kill two more. His mother had previously begged for help from the authorities, chillingly (but rhetorically) asking in one letter if her son might "have to commit murder" before anyone would do something about him. He tried to escape conviction through reasons of insanity but was found guilty of murder and attempted murder and given six life sentences, with the judge advising that he should never be released from prison. He committed suicide in a mental hospital the following year.
Viktor Dembovskis	2006	A Latvian citizen who raped and murdered a 17-year-old female neighbour as she walked home from school in west London, before fleeing back to Latvia. Dembovskis was deported from Latvia after a joint operation by British and Latvian police. It was revealed that Dembovskis had a string of convictions in Latvia stretching back 25 years including two rapes in the 1990s. Due to his appalling record, the trial judge advised that Dembovskis should never be freed - a rare recommendation for someone guilty of a single murder.
John McGrady	2006	A convicted rapist who strangled and mutilated a 15 year old girl in London before dumping her dismembered remains in bin bags. He slit his wrists and confessed to his girlfriend after the attack, but his suicide bid was thwarted and he was successfully brought to justice. However, much was made in court of his refusal to co-operate with the police and other authorities, especially on the issue of how or why the teenager was in his flat at the outset, although police remain convinced she did not go willingly. The judge said that McGrady, who had previous convictions for raping and kidnapping women, was a highly dangerous predator and should never be released from prison. The victim's family later criticised heavily the nature of the media's distressingly over-descriptive reporting of the murder. McGrady later appealed for a lower minimum term to be set by the Court of Appeal, but this was rejected.
Rahan Arshad	2006	Murdered of his wife and three children, who were found dead in their home in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Greater Manchester in August 2006.
Trevor Hamilton	2006	Murdered a 65 year-old woman as she made her way home from mass in Strabane, Northern Ireland, having been released just four months earlier from a prison sentence imposed for another rape. Hamilton is the first person in Northern Ireland to receive a whole life tariff for a non-terrorist offence, and was claimed to be "one of the most closely monitored sex-offenders in Northern Ireland" at the time of the murder. Hamilton's trial judge told him he should never be released from prison, even though he was only 21 at the time of the murder, due to his lengthy record of violent offences. Much comment after the sentence was imposed focused on the automatic remission of half the sentence received by all non-life prisoners in Northern Ireland and the perceived inadequacy in probation service resources in the region. However, Hamilton successfully appealed against the judge's recommendation and in June 2008 his minimum term was set at 35 years.
Stephen Ayre	2006	Having being paroled from a life sentence for a double murder, received another life sentence after being convicted of raping a 10-year-old boy.
Andrew Randall	2007	A Northampton man who sexually abused, tortured and murdered his seven-week-old baby daughter.
David Tiley	2007	Two months after he was release from prison, he stabbed to death his disabled fiancee Susan Hale, who suffered from a degenerative brain disorder, and her carer Sarah Merritt.
Michael Smith	2007	Attacked his victim with a bottle. This was a second life sentence, as he had already served time in prison for an earlier murder. The most recent murder occurred in Stafford, and he was convicted in 2007.
Steve Wright	2008	Murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich in late 2006. Wright was found guilty of all five murders in February 2008.^[3]
Levi Bellfield	2008	Attacked three women, killing two in sexually motivated attacks between 2001 and 2004. He is now lodging an appeal against his convictions.^[9]
Douglas Vinter	2008	Strangled and murdered his wife Anne White in Normanby, Teesside, on 10 February 2008. He admitted the murder in court two months later, and was already on life licence having spent nine years in prison for a previous murder.^[10]
Marc Chivers	2009	Strangled his ex-girlfriend Maria Stubbings with a dog lead in December 2008. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was handed a whole life tariff as he had previously served a 15 year sentence in Germany for murdering another ex-girlfriend and was deported to the UK in January 2008. Chivers had a string of previous convictions for some extreme cases of violent behaviour.^[11]
Peter Tobin	2009	Convicted of the murder of Dinah McNicol in Margate, Kent in 1991. Tobin had already been convicted in Scotland for the also 1991 murder of Vicky Hamilton whose body was found in Tobin's back garden alongside that of McNicol, and also for the murder of Angelika Kluk in a Glasgow church in 2006. Tobin was handed a whole life tariff, just two days after Marc Chivers, in England despite already currently serving two concurrent prison sentences in Scotland (which does not have the whole life tariff) of 21 years and 30 years for the murders of Angelika Kluk and Vicky Hamilton respectively.^[12]