London’s conveyor belt of cold blooded killers, sick rapists, and violent thugs may never stop turning. It means the justice system is tasked with keeping everyone else safe, whilst reserving hope the convicted could one day find their way back into the community. Some people though, are thought to be too dangerous to set free.
All those convicted of murder are handed a mandatory life sentence, and life terms can also be handed out for some other crimes, including rape. But in the British courts, life does not always mean life. A whole life order, which means a criminal will spend the rest of their days in prison, can be handed-out for the most serious of crimes, but these are very rare.
In other cases a judge must set a ‘minimum term’ which is the amount of time the killer must serve before being considered for parole. Some of London’s most callous killers are currently serving more than 20 years behind bars. As we have already written about Londoners facing whole life orders, these are the criminals with a minimum term that means they are locked up for at least two decades before they can be released.
