Decision day in triple killer's fight against whole-life jail term

A triple killer will later learn the outcome of a human rights claim against his whole-life prison sentence.

Arthur Hutchinson claims that the jail term amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment as he has no hope of release.

In 2015 a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights found there had been no violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But Hutchinson applied for the case to be passed to the Strasbourg court's Grand Chamber, which will deliver its findings on Tuesday afternoon.

The judgment will bring fresh scrutiny of the protracted issue of "life means life" terms.

Hutchinson was jailed in 1984 for stabbing Basil and Avril Laitner to death after breaking into the couple's Sheffield home, and then killing one of their sons.

The judge in his original trial ruled that he should serve a minimum of 18 years but then-home secretary Leon Brittan later determined he should face the whole-life tariff.

In 2008, Hutchinson had a domestic appeal against whole-life tariffs kicked out by the Court of Appeal.