For a select group of Britain's most dangerous offenders, the festive season holds no promise of future freedom. While many prisoners serving life sentences may one day see the possibility of parole, those handed a whole life order are condemned to die behind bars.
What is a Whole Life Order?
This represents the United Kingdom's most severe punishment, reserved for the gravest offences where the court believes there is no prospect of redemption. It is typically imposed for cases involving brutal or multiple murders, guaranteeing the offender will remain incarcerated for the entirety of their natural life, with no minimum term set.
As families across the nation celebrate, these individuals face the certainty of spending this Christmas and every one to come within prison walls. Here are some of the notorious criminals serving whole life orders.
Notorious Names on the Whole Life List
Lucy Letby, the former neonatal nurse from Hereford, is perhaps one of the most infamous recent additions. She was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. She is currently serving 15 whole life orders.
In a horrific 2024 case, Kyle Clifford used a crossbow to murder Carol Hunt and her two daughters, Hannah and Louise, at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire. The former security guard from Enfield received his whole life order in March 2025.
One of the most enduring names on the list is Rose West. Along with her late husband Fred, she tortured and murdered ten young women and girls between 1973 and 1987. She was given a whole life order in November 1995.
Other killers serving the ultimate sentence include:
- Brian Whitelock: From Swansea, he bludgeoned his 71-year-old neighbour to death in August 2022 while already on licence for a previous murder. Sentenced in December 2024.
- Steve Sansom: From south London, he murdered and dismembered Sarah Mayhew in April 2024 while on licence for a 1999 killing. Received his order in January 2025.
- Levi Bellfield: The serial killer murdered Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, and Amelie Delagrange. He received his first whole life order in 2008 and a second in 2011.
- Thomas Mair: The far-right extremist shot and stabbed Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June 2016. Sentenced in November 2016.
- Wayne Couzens: The former Metropolitan Police officer kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sarah Everard in London in March 2021. Sentenced in September 2021.
- Ali Harbi Ali: The terrorist who stabbed Conservative MP Sir David Amess to death in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021. Sentenced in 2022.
A Sentence Reserved for the Worst
The list further includes killers whose crimes shocked the nation. Mark Bridger abducted and murdered five-year-old April Jones in Wales in 2012. Dale Cregan murdered two police officers, Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, in Greater Manchester. Robert Maudsley, from Liverpool, has been held since 1979 for four murders and remains in solitary confinement.
More recent recipients include Damien Bendall, who killed his pregnant girlfriend and three children in Derbyshire in 2021, and Louis De Zoysa, who fatally shot Met Police Sergeant Matt Ratana in Croydon in 2020.
The whole life order remains a powerful symbol of the justice system's response to the most depraved acts. For these individuals, the passage of time brings no closer a release date, ensuring society is permanently protected from their capacity for harm.
