WHEN THE COURT of Final Appeal ruled on the case of two murderers last week, its decision attracted little attention. But the legal challenge could have caused chaos, and officials had been anxiously awaiting the result.
If lawyers for the convicted killers had been successful in their arguments, the government may have been forced to release virtually every murderer on to the streets, around 300 in all.
'It would have had very serious ramifications and would have affected large numbers of people already serving their terms,' said Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross, SC.
Under threat was both the long-standing legal definition of murder and the automatic passing of a life sentence on anyone convicted of what is regarded as the most serious of crimes.
The mandatory sentence, it was argued, 'falls foul of our constitutional safeguards against arbitrary imprisonment, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and inequality before the law'.
If the arguments had been successful, they would have prompted a flood of fresh appeals from prisoners serving life sentences.