England's top judge has been slapped down after renewing his call for shorter prison sentences and arguing that murderers are being jailed for too long.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips argued in a speech that mandatory life sentences for murderers meant prisons risked becoming "full of geriatric lifers" and suggested they were compounding the prison overcrowding crisis.
A Home Office spokesman said: "The Lord Chief Justice is entitled to his view and has expressed it. The Home Secretary believes that murderers and other dangerous offenders should be kept in prison as long as is necessary to protect the public."
The Victims of Crime Trust condemned the judge's comments, claiming that early release for murderers made a "mockery" of their victims' lives and the pain caused to their loved ones.
Trust director Norman Brennan said: "Lord Phillips has taken leave of his senses if he believes that releasing murderers early will help alleviate the prison population. He also makes the comment that prisons risk becoming full of geriatric lifers but that has to be the case if necessary. At least they still have their lives."
Mr Brennan added that long sentences are essential to punish dangerous offenders and deter others from committing similar crimes. He said: "There was a time in the not too distant past where some people or some murderers were hung for their crimes. Then it became life imprisonment. So when some murderers serve as little as eight years for such a grave and devastating crime, it makes a mockery of the lives of those who have been murdered."
The Government is committed to keeping mandatory sentences but Lord Phillips broke with its official line during a speech at the University of Birmingham on Thursday, according to the BBC.
He questioned the need for a mandatory life sentence for murder and suggested murder law reforms would not succeed unless changes were made in the sentencing regime. "I'm not in favour of mandatory sentences, full stop," he said.
The most senior judge in England and Wales added that it was regrettable that Government guidelines on the length of time murderers should spend in prison had the effect of "ratcheting up" sentences.
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In many cases, the minimum term was double what it had been before the guidelines were introduced under the Criminal Justice Act, he said."
