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 was represented by Mr J. Turner, a lawyer practising in North Shields with Kyles Legal Practice, assisted by Mr J. Bennathan QC and Ms K. Thorne, counsel. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Addis, 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.

On 10 July 2013 the complaint under Article 3 was communicated to the Government and the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible.

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, stabbed to death a man, his wife and their adult son and 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 the offences. At trial he pleaded not guilty, denying the killings and claiming that the sex had been consensual. On 14 September 1984, at Sheffield Crown Court, he was convicted of aggravated burglary, rape and three counts of murder.

The trial judge sentenced the applicant to a term of life imprisonment and recommended a minimum 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 minimum term of imprisonment. On 16 May 2008, Tugendhat J handed down judgment in the applicant’s case ([2008] EWHC 860 (QB)), finding that there was no reason for deviating from the Secretary of State’s decision. The seriousness of the offences alone was such that the starting point was a whole life order. In addition, there were a number of very serious aggravating factors. Tugendhat J made express reference to an impact statement from the surviving victim, which described “sadistic as well as sexual conduct”. There were no mitigating factors. On 6 October 2008, the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal.