Whole life tariff
A whole life tariff is a condition placed until recently by the Home Secretary on the UK's most dangerous criminals which informs them that they will never be released from prison alive.
The prisoners are chosen solely on the nature and seriousness of their crimes, with no consideration given as to their rehabilitation or good conduct since their incarceration.
Among those currently serving whole life tariffs in the UK are:
There are at least 15 other names on this list, including some which have not been made public. The unconfirmed names are, however, thought to include killer nurse Beverley Allitt - in prison since 1993; and child murderer Robert Black - in prison since 1994.
Although his name has never been publicly placed on the list, it is believed that Harry Roberts, found guilty of killing three policemen in 1966, is on it, as his trial judge recommended a 30 year minimum sentence when he was convicted but he remains in prison to this day.
New names expected to appear on the next published list include those of Soham child killer Ian Huntley, who was jailed in 2003; and Roy Whiting, imprisoned in 2001 for the abduction and murder of an eight year old girl.
Reggie Kray was on the list, but was released just before his death in 2000.
The second Moors Murderer, Myra Hindley, and killer doctor Harold Shipman were also on the last published list of whole life tariff prisoners. Both have since died in jail.
In 2002, the system was altered slightly in order to switch the responsibility for imposing whole life tariffs to judges in the Court of Appeal. For those inmates whose crimes were grave enough to warrant a whole life tariff, a judge would instead impose 'no minimum sentence'.
The idea was to endorse the idea of 'life meaning life' while also accepting that a 'whole life' could not be correctly attributed to a crime as the prisoner's lifespan was not known.
