§ Mr. Montgomeryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the cases of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley have recently been considered by the joint Home Office-Parole Board committee; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitelawSince 1973, the timing of the first formal review by the Parole Board of the case of any prisoner serving a sentence of life imprisonment has been fixed in consultation with the board. A joint committee, consisting of senior representatives of the board and the Home Office, makes recommendations to the Home Secretary on this matter. He is not obliged to accept the committee's advice. Nor is he bound to accept a recommendation from the Parole Board that a prisoner should be released. The decision whether or not a particular life sentence prisoner should be released on licence rests solely with the Secretary of State; but he cannot order the release of such a prisoner unless he has received a favourable recommendation from the Parole Board and before doing so he is also required to consult the Lord Chief Justice and, if he is available, the trial judge.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are both serving sentences of life imprisonment for murder imposed in May 1966. 454W The joint committee has recently again considered the cases of both these prisoners. It has again decided to make no recommendation that a date should be fixed for either prisoner to be considered by a local review committee, which is the essential preliminary to a formal review by the Parole Board. Instead, it has recommmended that it should itself be invited to look again at the cases of both prisoners in another three years. After careful consideration, I have decided to accept the committee's advice. My decision means that, barring any unforeseen developments in the meantime, nothing will be done to initiate a formal review of the case of either prisoner before it is considered again by the joint committee in January 1985.