Labour considers allowing murderers to avoid life sentences Telegraph | Archive
Published 17 June 2026 10:30am BSTMandatory life sentences for murder will be abolished, under plans to be considered by ministers.
The Law Commission has proposed that the Government should introduce a US-style system of first and second-degree murder.
Only first-degree murders, where the accused intended to kill their victim, would carry automatic life sentences.
Life sentences would be optional for second-degree murders, in which a killer intended to cause serious injury rather than death or had a “partial defence” such as diminished responsibility because of mental ill health.
The Law Commission – which was asked to review the offences by Shabana Mahmood when she was justice secretary – said the shake-up would create a “more proportionate framework that reflects the degrees of culpability of offenders”.
It is likely, however, that there will be a backlash against downgrading the offence. Opponents have previously said it would create a “murder-lite” category.
Most Law Commission proposals are turned into legislation. The propsals are likely to lead to the biggest change in homicide laws since hanging was abolished for murder nearly 60 years ago.
Diminished responsibility
The changes would mean a killer such as Valdo Calocane, who was convicted of manslaughter after fatally stabbing three people in Nottingham, could have been charged with second degree murder on the basis that he had a “partial defence” of diminished responsibility based on his schizophrenia.The families of the three victims – Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates – have consistently spoken out about their anger at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision to charge him with manslaughter on the grounds of his diminished responsibility.
From the left: Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar
In its report, the Law Commission said it was “irrational and confusing” for a successful partial defence to result in a conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
“The offence of manslaughter is conceptually different from murder. In cases where a partial defence applies, the defendant still has the necessary fault element for murder; they intended either to kill or cause serious injury,” said the Commission.
“The partial defences reflect the concept of broad culpability: the defendant is less blameworthy in the circumstances, despite their intent.
“In our view, it is more appropriate for such cases to remain within the boundaries of murder, but within the second tier, reflecting lower broad culpability.”
The Commission said it was accepted that the “most serious” type of murders should carry a mandatory life sentence. “The mandatory life sentence reflects the seriousness with which society views those whose culpability is the highest when causing the greatest level of harm,” it said.
But it warned: “Concerns about the breadth of the current offence of murder naturally lead to concerns about the breadth of the mandatory life sentence; that it is a barrier to the flexibility needed at sentencing for such a wide range of culpability and conduct.
“To create a fairer law of homicide that maintains the legitimacy of the mandatory life sentence for the most serious offending, we think it is appropriate to create two tiers of murder and limit the mandatory life sentence to the first tier.”
‘Law has not kept pace’
Prof Penney Lewis, the commissioner for criminal law, said: “Homicide offences in England and Wales have never been the object of a coherent and structured reform and the law has not kept pace with what society now understands about culpability, domestic abuse and the consequences of dangerous conduct.“This review offers a timely opportunity to modernise the law and to build a fairer and more proportionate framework that reflects the degrees of culpability of offenders. We want to hear from as many people as possible with experience in this area before we make our final recommendations.”
The Law Commission made a similar recommendation in a review in 2006 but it was rejected by the Tories.
Oliver Heald, a justice minister, told MPs: “The public rightly thinks murder is the most serious and abhorrent crime, and I have a concern about creating a ‘murder-lite’ category.”
