Law Lords ban secrecy that keeps 'lifers' ignorant of detention term

THE Law Lords yesterday lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding the detention of prisoners serving compulsory life sentences for murder.

In a ruling affecting the rights of the country's 2,500 mandatory lifers, the Lords ruled as unlawful the secretive system under which the Home Secretary decides their release date.

Four prisoners had brought the case to challenge the procedure whereby a murderer sentenced to life is not told what jail term the trial judge and Lord Chief Justice recommend to the Home Secretary and does not know whether or not the Home Secretary takes the judicial advice, nor the reasons. Latest figures showed the Home Secretary had set jail terms higher than the trial judge recommended in 63 out of 106 cases.

When the prisoners - Stephen Doody, John Pierson, Elfed Smart and Kenneth Pegg - won the right to information about their detention, the Government appealed to the Lords. But yesterday Lords Keith, Lane, Templeman, Browne-Wilkinson and Mustill said that prisoners will be informed at all stages and may make submissions about their release to the Home Secretary, before he sets the date for their first parole hearing.

Yesterday John Wadham, legal officer at Liberty, the civil liberties organisation, said: 'This is an important decision - the culmination of a campaign to give basic human rights to lifers.' But he said they should have the same rights as those sentenced to 'discretionary' life terms for offences other than murder. Since a European Court ruling last October discretionary lifers have the right to a hearing before an independent tribunal.

The mandatory life sentence allows the court to show no mercy or understanding. In his judgment, Lord Mustill said: 'In truth the mandatory life sentence for murder is symbolic.'

As Home Secretary, Kenneth Clarke had been considering abolishing the mandatory life sentence, but sources suggest Michael Howard is unlikely to be as receptive.

Law report, page 32