MP urging tough action on murders

Murder should carry a tougher prison sentence, a Shropshire MP has told Parliament.

Mark Pritchard warned of a growing public unrest about the leniency of some jail terms handed down to convicted killers, and said it was time ministers looked again at the minimum tariff of 15 years.

The Tory MP raised the issue with Justice Secretary Jack Straw in the Commons yesterday.

He said: "With increasing public concern and frustration about the leniency of many custodial sentences handed down to those convicted of murder, does the Secretary of State believe the time is right to review the minimum tariff for convictions for murder which currently stands at only 15 years?

"Is it not time that life meant life?"

Mr Straw said he was more than happy to receive representations about sentences including those for the most terrible crimes.

He added: "Where there is a tariff set as there is for life sentences, there is no remission for good behaviour. The prisoner has to serve the full period of that tariff - 15 years - in many cases much, much longer, before he or she is considered for parole."

Wrekin MP Mr Pritchard said afterwards this was not tough enough. "I do not believe this is a sufficient deterrent and should be increased," he said.

"Government ministers need to take action to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system and make custodial sentences more severe for those people who take the life of another. There needs to be a review which involves not only criminal justice professionals but also the families of victims."

His comments follow a series of murder cases in which relatives and police have expressed dismay at the lack of remorse shown by the killers - and in some cases their families.

On Monday, two teena- gers were ordered to serve a minimum of 18 and 16 years each for murdering Sophie Lancaster, 20, last August in Lancashire. Detectives criticised the conduct of the defendants and their families throughout the criminal proceedings as "appalling".

In February, three teena- ge thugs were sentenced to life for kicking 47-year-old Garry Newlove to death in Warrington, Cheshire, last August.

By Sunita Patel