PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 57592/08) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a British national, Mr Arthur Hutchinson (“the applicant”), on 10 November 2008.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Kyles Legal Practice, North Shields. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr P. McKell of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The applicant alleged in particular that his whole life sentence gave rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention.

The application was allocated to the Fourth Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). On 10 July 2013 the complaint concerning Article 3 was communicated to the Government and the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible pursuant to Rule 54 § 3 of the Rules of Court. In its judgment of 3 February 2015, a Chamber of the Fourth Section composed of Judges Raimondi, Nicolaou, Bianku, Tsotsoria, Kalaydjieva, Mahoney and Wojtyczek, and also of F. Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar, declared by a majority the applicant’s Article 3 complaint admissible. The Chamber also held, by six votes to one, that there had been no violation of Article 3. A dissenting opinion of Judge Kalaydjieva was appended to the judgment.

On 1 June 2015, pursuant to a request by the applicant dated 5 March 2015, the Panel of the Grand Chamber decided to refer the case to the Grand Chamber in accordance with Article 43 of the Convention.

The composition of the Grand Chamber was determined according to the provisions of Article 26 §§ 4 and 5 of the Convention and Rule 24 of the Rules of Court.

The applicant and the Government each filed written observations (Rule 59 § 1 of the Rules of Court) on the merits. In addition, third-party comments were received from the European Prison Litigation Network (the “EPLN”), which had been granted leave to intervene in the written procedure (Article 36 § 2 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 3 of the Rules of Court). The Government replied to these comments in the course of their oral submissions at the hearing (Rule 44 § 6 of the Rules of Court).

A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 21 October 2015 (Rule 59 § 3 of the Rules of Court). There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Mr P. McKell, Agent, Mr J. Wright QC, Attorney-General, Mr J. Eadie QC, Counsel, Ms A. Foulds, Ms C. Gaskell, Mr J. Gerard, Ms J. Earl, Advisers; (b) for the applicant Mr J. Bennathan QC, Ms K. Thorne, Counsel, Mr J. Turner, Adviser. The Court heard addresses by Mr Wright and Mr Bennathan, and their answers to questions put by the Court.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1941 and is detained in Her Majesty’s Prison Durham.

In October 1983, the applicant broke into a family home, where he stabbed to death a man, his wife and their adult son. He then repeatedly raped their 18 year‑old daughter, having first dragged her past her father’s body. He was arrested several weeks later and charged with these offences. At trial he pleaded not guilty, denying the killings and claiming that the sexual intercourse had been consensual. On 14 September 1984, he was convicted of three counts of murder, rape, and aggravated burglary.

The trial judge sentenced the applicant to a term of life imprisonment and, in accordance with the rules on sentencing then in force, recommended a minimum period (tariff) of 18 years to the Secretary of State for the Home Office. When asked to give his opinion again on 12 January 1988, the judge wrote that “for the requirements of retribution and general deterrence this is genuinely a life case”. On 15 January 1988 the Lord Chief Justice recommended that the period should be set at a whole life term stating that “I do not think that this man should ever be released, quite apart from the risk which would be involved”. On 16 December 1994, the Secretary of State informed the applicant that he had decided to impose a whole life term.

Following the entry into force of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the applicant applied to the High Court for a review of his sentence, arguing that he should receive the 18-year tariff mentioned at his trial. On 16 May 2008, the High Court gave its judgment. It found that there was no reason to depart from the Secretary of State’s decision. The seriousness of the offences alone was such that the starting point was a whole life order. A number of very serious aggravating factors were present, and no mitigating factors. On 6 October 2008, the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal.