Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2001] All ER (D) 280 (Feb)
Court: Divisional Court
Judge:

Rose LJ, Sullivan and Penry-Davey JJ
Representation Edward Fitzgerald QC, Sally Hatfield, Phillippa Kaufmann (instructed by Bhatt Murphy) for Anderson.
  Edward Fitzgerald QC, Sally Hatfield, Phillippa Kaufmann (instructed by Peter Ievins, Peterborough) for Taylor
  David Pannick QC and Mark Shaw (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the Home Secretary.
Judgment Dates: 22 February 2001

Catchwords

Prison - Life sentence - Mandatory life sentence - Claimants serving mandatory life sentences for murder - Secretary of State fixing tariff period - Whether Secretary of State breaching claimants' convention rights - s 29(1) - European Convention on Human Rights, art 6(1).

The Case

It was clear from both domestic and Strasbourg jurisprudence that as the mandatory sentence for murder was custody for life, the tariff fixing procedure carried out by the Home Secretary under s29(1) of the 1997 Act had to be regarded as an administrative procedure governing the implementation of the sentence. It followed that there was no analogy with discretionary lifers or those sentenced to detention during Her Majesty's pleasure and accordingly art6(1) did not apply.

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