Multiple killer must spend life behind bars, says judge

Jeremy Bamber, a man serving life for killing five members of his family in 1985, must never be freed from prison, a judge decided yesterday.

"These murders were exceptionally serious," said Mr Justice Tugendhat after reviewing Bamber's whole-life tariff. In a written decision to be communicated to Bamber, who had asked for a specific minimum term to be set to give him some hope of parole, the judge added: "In my judgment, you ought to spend the whole of the rest of your life in prison, and I so order."

Bamber, 47, who continues to maintain his innocence, was found guilty of shooting his wealthy adoptive parents, June and Nevill, his sister, Sheila Caffell, and her six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas, at their farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, in 1985.