Patrick Hurley, MP for Southport, has called for Axel Rudakubana’s sentence to be reviewed. He believes a minimum of 52 years is “not severe enough” and does not “reflect the crimes committed”.

The sentence is one of the highest minimum custody terms ever recorded. It is also highly likely that Rudakubana will die in prison due to the length of term. However, because of the nature of the crime – the murder of three young girls and the attempted murder of another eight children as well as the class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes – there is increasing public sentiment that the term is too lenient which has triggered calls for the law to be changed.

When he meted out the sentence at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Justice Goose said that his decision to impose a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years was because Rudakubana was likely to be “disruptive”. Mr Justice Goose also described the sentence as “substantial” and likely to mean Rudakubana spends the rest of his life in custody, a sentiment echoed by Sir Keir Starmer when he made his own statement on the sentencing of the “vile offender”.

Patrick Hurley MP was quick to disagree. He told the media he felt the sentence was “not severe enough” and has asked the Attorney General to review it for being “unduly lenient” adding:

“We need a sentence that represents the severity of this crime that has terrorised the victims and their families.”

The Attorney General’s office has confirmed the case has been referred to it under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. This means they are duty bound to conduct the review as they must act as soon as a single request to do so has been received.

Will a review of Rudakubana’s sentence lead to a change in the law?

The 52 year minimum was included in the sentence because of the defendant’s age. Nobody under the age of 21 can legally receive a whole-life order. A whole-life order can only be given to offenders aged 21 although there has been precedent for orders to be given to offenders aged between 18 to 20 in very rare cases.

The Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch and his Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the Southport murders present a “strong case” for this law to be changed, a change their party has started to explore. Reform UK MPs Rupert Lowe and Lee Anderson went one step further calling for the death penalty to be reinstated for offenders over 18 years old.

The Prime Minister’s office however has to this point rejected calls to change law on whole-life sentences. They have said these orders cannot be extended to killers under the age of 18 because the government does not have the power because of international law.

Defence Secretary, John Healey, said Britain is unable to impose unlimited sentences on under-18s because of the UN convention on children’s rights. That said, Mr Healey also refused to rule out the law changing at some point in the future saying:

“We owe it to those victims to consider and then deliver the changes that their memories deserve. The prime minister has made it clear that nothing is off the table.”

A Downing Street spokesperson was equally balanced:

“We share the public’s disgust at the extent of the crimes here, and we, as the Defence Secretary said this morning, don’t want to see this man ever coming out of prison. And that’s a view shared by the government.”

Before seemingly backtracking on this position by adding:

“We’re restricted in our ability to extend whole-life orders by UN laws. And I think it’s important to reiterate, this is something the previous government recognised when it changed the law in this area previously.”

Given the level of emotion felt by the whole country over these heinous crimes, the decision as to whether the Axel Rudakubana case should lead to the law being changed so that 18-20 year olds can receive life-long orders must of course be carefully considered.

Our specialist criminal barristers will continue to monitor developments as any change to the law will have a massive impact on the criminal justice system and the way those accused of murder are tried.