Whole-Life Sentence Challenge Dismissed By Judges

A triple murderer has lost an appeal against his whole-life prison sentence.

Arthur Hutchinson was jailed in 1984 for stabbing husband and wife Basil and Avril Laitner to death after breaking into their Sheffield home on their daughter's wedding night, then killing one of their sons.

He is the first whole-life prisoner to challenge his sentence after a controversial ruling by judges at the European Court of Human Rights in July 2013 that the tariffs breach human rights.

At the time, the Strasbourg-based court said that a sentence which forces murderers to die in jail was "inhuman and degrading" because it is not "reducible".

But in the case of Hutchinson, judges have ruled that the Secretary of State's power to review whole-life sentences is sufficient.

In their written ruling, they said, "The court must accept the national court's interpretation of domestic law."

At his original trial, Hutchinson was ordered to serve 18 years, that sentence was increased to whole-life by the then-home secretary Leon Brittan.

A domestic appeal against the sentence was kicked out by the Court of Appeal six years ago.

The list of whole-lifers includes Moors murderer Ian Brady and Mark Bridger, who murdered five-year-old April Jones.