Annual Report 2004

LIFE SENTENCE REVIEW COMMISSIONERS

5 th Floor Windsor House

9-15 Bedford Street

BELFAST

BT2 7SR

PHONE: 028 9054 9424

FAX: 028 9054 9427

Paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 1 of the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001 requires that, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year, the Chairman of the Life Sentence Review Commissioners shall make a report to the Secretary of State on the performance of the Commissioners' functions during that year. In compliance with that requirement, I am pleased to submit to you my report in respect of the financial year 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.

I am glad to be able to report that all the indications are that every one of my fellow Commissioners has discharged his or her functions under the Order and the Life Sentence Review Commissioners' Rules diligently and fairly. It is anticipated that as a growing number of prisoners will have their tariffs fixed in the immediate future our workload will increase substantially during, in particular, the coming year. However, I am satisfied that both the Commissioners and the Secretariat are alert to the additional demands that this is likely to make of us all and we expect to be able to cope with them.

A new feature of our work in the future will be making recommendations, in respect of prisoners referred to the Commissioners three years prior to the expiration of their tariffs, as to how those prisoners might best be prepared for eventual release. The Rules do not provide for how cases of this type are to be processed and, in consultation with the Prison Service, we are currently devising procedures which we hope will prove to be efficient, effective and fair.

Besides processing the cases referred to us by you, the Commissioners have continued to do a great deal of other work, particularly in relation to developing policies designed to assist panels in dealing with problems which may confront them and to promote consistency in the decision-making of panels. One of the Commissioners' objectives is transparency. To this end, and so far as they may be relevant, the policies to which I have referred have been incorporated in the Step-by-Step Guide for Prisoners (see Annex A to the report) which is routinely furnished to those prisoners whose cases are referred to us and their legal representatives. These policies are, of course, subject to rulings by individual panels, made in the light of submissions made to them and they are kept under constant review.

In my letters covering previous reports, I have made reference to difficulties with the interpretation and application of the Rules and to the possibility of revisiting them with a view to simplifying them. It is noted that amendments to the Order are in the process of being brought forward and the Commissioners are grateful for the opportunity to comment which they were afforded. Notwithstanding those amendments there will remain other aspects of the Order in respect of which amendment might in the future be considered appropriate. The Commissioners have asked one of our number, His Honour Judge Rodgers, to convene a small group of Commissioners to look at both the Order and the Rules with a view to the Commissioners adopting proposals for presentation to you in due course for your consideration.

As I mentioned in last year's report, Commissioners are required to have regard to the desirability of securing the rehabilitation of life sentence prisoners. An important element in the rehabilitation is, of course, the provision of programmes and regimes in prison that may facilitate the testing of prisoners in the community. The Commissioners are grateful to the Prison Service and the Probation Service for keeping us advised as to the progress that both services have made in developing appropriate programmes and prisoner-testing arrangements.

I understand, however, that having implemented the Steele Report, the Prison Service may not be able to provide similar programmes and regimes for life sentence prisoners now housed in separated conditions. As a result, it is questionable whether the Prison Service and indeed the Probation Service will be in a position to provide Commissioners with all the prisoner-related information required under Schedules 1 and 2 of the Rules. If the requisite evidential material is not available, Commissioners may be unable to fulfil their statutory duty to determine whether it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm that a prisoner should be confined. We are presently in discussion with the Prison Service to see how this sensitive and difficult issue can be resolved.

Towards the end of the year, the Commissioners hosted a stock take, in which the Prison Service and the Probation Service participated, with the purpose of assessing progress and identifying areas in which existing policies, procedures and practices might be adjusted or developed to facilitate the due performance of the statutory functions set out in the Order. The Commissioners found the event invaluable and greatly appreciated the contributions made by the members of the Prison and Probation Services who attended.

In conclusion, may I express the gratitude of the Commissioners for the helpful advice and support provided to us by the Secretariat and for their very high standard of work throughout the year.

Background

The appointment of the Commissioners was the result of a review of Northern Ireland prisons legislation conducted by the Government in anticipation of the coming into effect, in October 2000, of the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998. An important aspect of that review was a consideration of the arrangements then in place for the consideration of the suitability for release of prisoners who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The review considered the three types of life sentence: mandatory life sentences (for murder), discretionary life sentences (for other serious violent offences) and juvenile offenders sentenced to detention at the Secretary of State's pleasure in circumstances that would, for an adult, have merited either a mandatory or a discretionary life sentence.

The review concluded that the existing procedures for discretionary life sentence prisoners and those sentenced to detention at the Secretary of State's pleasure could be deemed inconsistent with the requirements of the Human Rights Act. They were based on advice on the suitability of the prisoner for release being given to the Secretary of State by the Life Sentence Review Board, a non-statutory body consisting largely of senior officials of the Northern Ireland Office. It was considered that compliance with the Human Rights Act would require that, once the punitive element of the sentence had been completed, each prisoner should have his or her case reviewed periodically by a judicial body. To have judicial character, the body would need to be independent of the executive (and of the parties concerned); impartial; and able to give a legally binding direction regarding the prisoner's release.

In March 2000, the report of the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland endorsed this conclusion and further recommended that an independent body should make decisions on the release of all life sentence prisoners.

The Government accepted this recommendation and brought forward legislation to require all life sentence prisoners to have the punitive element of their sentence judicially determined and their suitability for release independently assessed and directed at the appropriate time by an independent body of judicial character.

The legislation in question was the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001 ("the Order") and the Life Sentence Review Commissioners' Rules 2001 ("the Rules"). The Order was approved by, and the Rules laid before, Parliament in July 2001 and both came into force on 8October 2001.

• the Commissioners to advise the Secretary of State on any matter referred to them by him connected with the release or recall of life sentence prisoners;

• the setting by the court of a relevant period, or 'tariff', as the period of the sentence to be served to satisfy retribution and deterrence before review for release;

• the power of the Commissioners to direct a prisoner's release on licence if continued detention is not required for the protection of the public;

• the attachment by the Secretary of State of conditions to the release licence, in accordance with recommendations of the Commissioners;

• the revocation by the Secretary of State of the licence of a released prisoner and the latter's recall to prison;

• the consideration by the Commissioners of such recalls and their power to direct the release of recalled prisoners; and

• arrangements for the setting of tariffs for prisoners already serving life sentences.

The Rules set out in detail the procedures that apply where the Secretary of State refers a prisoner's case to the Commissioners regarding his release or recall. They provide, in particular, for:

• the appointment by the Chairman of a panel of three Commissioners to consider each case (wherever practicable, one panel member should be legally qualified and another a psychiatrist or psychologist);

• the submission of information and reports by the Secretary of State and of further evidence by the prisoner;

• the holding of an oral hearing to consider the prisoner's case and the procedure for such hearings (including the attendance of witnesses);

• the giving of procedural directions by the panel and the consideration of appeals against such directions; and

• the withholding, in specified circumstances, of particular items of evidence from the prisoner, or the prisoner and his representative, and, in the latter event, the appointment by the Attorney General of a special advocate to represent the prisoner's interests.

The Commissioners

Peter Smith is a QC who retired from practice in 2001 after over 30 years' experience at the Bar of Northern Ireland. He remains a judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey & Guernsey and a deputy judge of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland. Between 1998 and 1999 he was a member of the Independent Commission on Policing.

Tom Craig is a retired Assistant Chief Constable with over thirty-five years' experience of policing in Northern Ireland. Latterly he was appointed Regional Commander of South Region in 1998 and held operational command responsibility for most of Co Down, Co Armagh and part of Co Tyrone.

Teresa Doherty is a self-employed barrister. She was a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee of JP's, a part-time Chairman of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and held the positions of Principal Magistrate and National and Supreme Court Judge for the Judicial and Legal Commission of Papua New Guinea. Since November 2003 she has been working on a judicial secondment to Sierra Leone.

Ruth Elliott is a retired Consultant Clinical Psychologist. She was Clinical Psychology Services Manager at Belfast City Hospital and served on the Mental Health Commission for 7½ years, latterly as Vice-Chairman. She is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, and is Secretary of the Northern Ireland Division of Clinical Psychology.

Anne Fenton has been a qualified solicitor since 1978 and she was appointed Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University, Belfast in 1998. She is currently a part-time legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal and has previously held appointments as part-time Chairman to both the Child Support and Disability Appeal Tribunals.

Ronald Galloway was a Consultant Psychiatrist at Craigavon Area Hospital and St Luke's Hospital, Armagh and until 1998 held the post of Medical Director and Executive Board Member of the Craigavon and Banbridge Community Health and Personal Social Services Trust. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dr Galloway has been a member of the Mental Health Commission since 1994, serving as its Vice-Chairman in 1999/2000, and is currently Chairman of the Commission's Management Committee.

Brian Garrett is a self-employed legal consultant and Deputy County Court Judge. He is Chairman of the Northern Ireland Teachers Salary and Conditions of Service Committee and a Chairman of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. He has previously held appointments as Deputy Chairman of the Northern Ireland Independent Commission for Police Complaints and as a member of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights.

Mary Gilpin is a former member of the Scottish Probation Service and a retired social worker. She was a member of the Board of Visitors for HMP Maze from 1985 to 1997 and served two terms as Chairman as well as being Secretary to the Northern Ireland Association of Members of Boards of Visitors. She was closely involved in the establishment of Dismas House, a hostel for use by prisoners and their families. She has been a Sentence Review Commissioner since July 1998.

Adrian Grounds is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Criminology and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. He is an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has also been a Sentence Review Commissioner since July 1998.

Peter Hepper is Head of School of Psychology at Queen's University Belfast. He also serves as a non-executive Director of the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust. He is a Chartered Psychologist and a fellow of the British Psychological Society and has been Visiting Professor at Kyushu University, Japan, and University New South Wales, Australia.

John Jackson is Director of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Queen's University, Belfast. He previously taught in University College Cardiff, the City University London, the University of Sheffield and was Visiting Professor at Hastings College of the Law, University of California in 2000. From 1998 to 2000, he was an Independent Assessor for the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Review.

John Leckey qualified as a solicitor in 1974 and has been HM Coroner for Greater Belfast since 1992. From 1996 to 2001, he served as a member of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which considers allegations of miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Damien McCullagh is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Armagh & Dungannon Health and Social Services Trust and was previously a Principal Clinical Psychologist in the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Donal McFerran is a qualified solicitor with a Masters in Medical Law and practised for many years as partner in a law firm dealing principally with defendants' litigation. He served as a Deputy Resident Magistrate from 1980 to 1985 and was appointed a Deputy County Court Judge in 1990. He is currently a member of the Mental Health Tribunal, holds a number of other General Medical Council appointments and was appointed Secretary to the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal in 2000. He has been a Sentence Review Commissioner since February 2002.

Pat McGrath is a recently retired General Practitioner who continues to work as an independent forensic physician to the Policing Board for Northern Ireland. He has a number of General Medical appointments and is also a member of both the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel.

Clodach McGrory practiced at the Bar of Northern Ireland from 1990 to 1995 and subsequently worked at the Law Centre (NI). She was a member of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights from 1998 to 1999 and was appointed to the Irish Human Rights Commission in December 2000. She is currently a part-time Chairperson of Social Security Appeal tribunals and has been a Sentence Review Commissioner since July 1998.

Duncan Morrow is the Chief Executive the Community Relations Council and a lecturer in politics at the University of Ulster. He is a member of the Corrymeela Community, has a long-standing interest in reconciliation and conflict resolution and is the author of a number of reports into politics and community relations in Northern Ireland. He has been a Sentence Review Commissioner since September 1998.

Steve Murphy was recently appointed Director General of the Probation Service for England and Wales and was awarded the CBE in the New Year's Honours List. He was previously Chief Probation Officer for Northumbria. He has been a member of the Parole Board for England & Wales since 1995 and was previously a member of the Local Review Committee at Wandsworth Prison, London.

Elaine Peel is a former Assistant Chief Probation Officer with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and in that capacity acted as chairman of the Criminal Justice sub-committee on Domestic Violence and Director of the National Community Justice Training Organisation.

Elsbeth Rea is a self-employed consultant providing independent social work research services and training to social work organisations. She has previously worked as both a Senior Probation Officer with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and as a lecturer in Social Work at Queen's University Belfast. She has recently retired as a non-executive Director of the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust and previously held appointments with the Police Authority for Northern Ireland and the Eastern Health & Social Services Council.

Derek Rodgers has been a County Court Judge since 1997 and previously served as a District Judge for eight years. He is a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Church of Ireland and holds positions with a number of voluntary organisations.

Andrew Sanders is Professor of Criminal Law & Criminology at the University of Manchester, having previously held the post of Deputy Director of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Oxford. His current research is focused on the role of victims in the criminal justice process and he is the author of several criminal justice publications. He has recently stood down from the Parole Board for England & Wales, having served nine years as a criminologist member, and was a member of the working party that established the detailed arrangements for lifer panels.

Oliver Shanks was a Consultant Psychiatrist in Learning Disability who specialised in forensic psychiatry. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has been a member of the Mental Health Commission since 1996. He is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Mental Health at Queen's University, Belfast and is currently a member of the Boards of EXTERN and PRAXIS.

Nigel Stone has been Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East Anglia since 1979. Until 1997 he also served in the Probation Service for 24 years, holding a joint appointment as Probation Officer and Head of Home Office sponsored training programme for probation students at East Anglia. He was appointed as a criminologist member of the Parole Board for England & Wales in 1997.

Herb Wallace is Professor Emeritus at the Queen's University of Belfast. He is a former member of the Police Authority for Northern Ireland, serving as Vice-Chairman from 1996 until 2001 and ultimately as Chief Executive. He is a past Chairman of the Northern Ireland Regional Committee for Custody Visiting and is currently a Member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel for Northern Ireland.

This year all the Commissioners have continued to enhance their understanding of the arrangements for the sentence management and rehabilitation of life sentence prisoners, and of the Human Rights issues affecting the exercise of their statutory responsibilities. They have also continued to hold regular plenary meetings. Besides processing cases referred to them, the Commissioners have continued their work of developing policies and refining their procedures. Commissioners have set up a number of sub-groups and working parties to look at various aspects of their role.

As Commissioners need to maintain a current knowledge of developments in HR jurisprudence, this group, comprising the legally qualified Commissioners, meets regularly to discuss the implications of relevant judgements delivered in the UK and by the European Court of Human Rights. They also discuss other legal matters that have arisen or may arise in relation to cases under consideration.

This group, comprising the Commissioners who are psychologists and psychiatrists, was set up to formulate an appropriate working definition of psychological injury falling within the scope of the statutory criteria of serious harm. Having been approved at plenary, the agreed definition is now incorporated in policy documents and published in the Step-by- Step Guide for Prisoners (see Annex A).

In deciding cases referred to them for consideration, the Commissioners' overriding duty is to protect the public from serious harm. That involves an understanding of the process by which the various reports contained in the dossier submitted by the Secretary of State combine to provide an assessment of the level of risk posed by a prisoner. This group, comprising Commissioners from all the disciplines, was set up to consider the factors that underpin an accurate and verifiable risk assessment, in consultation with the Psychological Services of the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Probation Board for Northern Ireland.

As the Commissioners are required by statute to have regard to the desirability of securing the rehabilitation of prisoners, they believe that, where feasible, a prisoner who appears to present a low risk should have an opportunity to be tested in a public setting. This group, comprising Commissioners from all the disciplines, was set up in conjunction with the Prison Service and the Probation Service to consider whether the Pre-Release Scheme (PRS) managed by the Prison Service could be developed to provide further opportunity for testing selected life sentence prisoners in the community.

The vast majority of prisoners whose release on licence will be directed by the Commissioners will have conditions attached to their licence. This group, comprising Commissioners from all the disciplines, was set up to compile a list of conditions to be attached as standard. They also devised a list of other, non-standard conditions that could be applied if the panel felt it necessary. Standard conditions include supervision by a Probation Officer and other conditions could, for example, relate to participation on behavioural programmes and residence. The group held several meetings with the Probation Service to help them in their task.

Commissioners agreed that a review of the Order and Rules would help minimise the difficulties that they had encountered in operating and interpreting the legislation. Commissioners have noted that a substantive review of the Order is underway and have already given their views to the Secretary of State. In due course, they also intend providing advice on possible amendments to the Rules.

Ever conscious of the need to provide an effective service, Commissioners established a Group to consider and draft a complaints procedure, through which anyone unhappy with any aspect of their dealings with the Commissioners could have redress. When approved by plenary, the procedure will be published on the Commissioners' website and available to members of the public as well as prisoners and their representatives.

The Commissioners also continually review and update their Step-by-Step Guide for Prisoners, a copy of which is attached as at Annex A.

Chapter Three

Casework

The work of the Commissioners is largely dependent on the number of prisoners whose cases are referred to them in accordance with the provisions of the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001, and this year their workload increased substantially.

While the table above shows that Oral Hearings were heard in eighteen cases, in a further five cases the hearings were adjourned and have yet to be reconvened.

Throughout the year, the Commissioners have occupied accommodation on the 5 th floor of Windsor House, Belfast and have been supported and advised by a Secretariat comprising the Secretary to the Commissioners and a team of staff numbering 5 for most of the year, but which was reduced to 4 by the end of the year covered by this report.

The Secretariat also support the work of the Sentence Review Commissioners appointed under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, who occupy the same accommodation. Shared costs have been apportioned accordingly and are indicated as *. All other costs were actually incurred.

Expenditure incurred by the Secretary of State in providing for the work of the Commissioners in the year ended 31 March 2004 was:

A step-by-step guide for prisoners

NOTE: The advice given in this Guide may be changed if the Life Sentence Review Commissioners consider that additional or amended information should be included for the benefit of prisoners.

1. If you have already received and read the information leaflets issued by the Prison Service explaining the procedures for reviewing life sentences you may have a fairly clear understanding of how your case would be referred to and dealt with by the Life Sentence Review Commissioners. This Guide sets out additional information on that process which you might find helpful.

THE LEGISLATION

2. For easy reference, this Guide summarises parts of the relevant legislation - the Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001 ("the Order") and the Life Sentence Review Commissioners' Rules 2001 ("the Rules"). It is important that you fully understand what the legislation means, and how the procedures affect you. It is in your interests to consider the benefits of legal representation. You or your representative should study the Order and the Rules carefully before submitting any material to the Commissioners or attending the oral hearing of your case.

3. The Secretary of State starts the review process by referring your case to the Commissioners, usually about six months before the date at which your tariff period set by the courts is due to end, or following your recall to prison upon revocation of your licence. The Commissioners will then write to let you know that your case has been referred to them by the Secretary of State. That letter, known as the 'listing letter', will set a provisional date for your oral hearing by a panel of three Commissioners and also set the dates by which certain matters need to be completed so that your hearing can go ahead as provisionally arranged. All the dates and timings are counted forward from the date of the listing letter.

4. The steps and time limits set out in this Guide apply to prisoners who have not previously been released on licence and whose tariff has not yet expired.

4.1 However, if your tariff has already expired by the time your case is referred to the Commissioners or if you have been recalled to prison after a period of release on licence , then a shorter timetable will apply.

4.2 The Commissioners will try to arrange for your case to be heard as soon as practicable . But as all cases are considered individually, your timetable may differ from that of someone whose case you think is similar to your own.

5. If you take the date of your listing letter as "week 1", then the next steps go as follows:

5.1 By week 3 you must give the Commissioners and the Prison Service details of the person appointed to act as your representative. A form on which to do so will be sent out with the listing letter. If you want to consult or employ a solicitor, you may be entitled to Legal Aid. You may of course choose to be represented by someone else, but please note that some categories of persons require the consent of the Commissioners. The Prison Service must also notify the Commissioners and you of the details of the person appointed to act as the Secretary of State's representative at this stage.

5.2 By week 5 you must notify the Commissioners and the Prison Service whether or not you wish to attend the hearing. A form on which to do so will be sent out with the listing letter.

5.3 The Commissioners would encourage you to be represented and to attend your hearing, but if you choose not to be you will be offered an interview with a Commissioner who will not be on the panel hearing your case. The interview will only proceed if you agree to it. The purpose of the interview is to give you the opportunity to discuss your case with the Commissioner and mention anything that you would wish the panel to consider. The Commissioner may also ask you questions about matters that the panel might wish to consider. After the interview, the Commissioner will prepare a report for the panel, and send copies to you and to the Secretary of State.

5.4 By week 8 the Prison Service will make a dossier available to you or your representative. This will normally contain all the information and reports that the Secretary of State considers relevant to your suitability for release, so you and your representative will need to discuss the written evidence carefully.

5.5 By week 14 you must submit any representations that you wish to make about your case to the Commissioners and the Prison Service.

5.6 By week 16 you must submit a written application to the Commissioners for any witnesses that you want to call at the hearing. You must send a copy to the Prison Service. The application should include the substance of the evidence that the witness will give. A form on which you can do this will be sent out with the listing letter. The Prison Service must also submit a written application to the Commissioners at this time for any witnesses required by the Secretary of State at the hearing and must send a copy to you.

5.7 You may also apply to be accompanied at the hearing by, for example, a family member, a friend, or a minister of religion. This can be done on the form to be used for witnesses. The Secretary of State also has a right to apply for the presence of others not directly involved.

5.8 The Chairman of the panel will direct whether or not these applications have been granted and give reasons in writing for the decision if any application is refused.

5.9 After all these stages have been completed (usually around 4-6 weeks in advance of the hearing) the final date of the hearing will be confirmed. At this stage, you or your representative must contact those being called as witnesses on your behalf and confirm that they are able to attend on the day of the hearing. The witnesses should, if possible, be available for the whole day. It is the responsibility of those calling witnesses to arrange for their attendance .

5.10 If you have any further documentation that you wish to have considered, you must submit it to the Commissioners and Prison Service in good time for the hearing.

5.11 If you or your representative wish to make any submissions on any point of law at the hearing, you or your representative should notify the Commissioners as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than the day on which you receive confirmation of the actual date of hearing (which will be at least three weeks prior to the date of the hearing). The notification should include a summary of the point or points of law to be raised and should also include a list of any legal precedents, upon which you or your representative proposes to rely, together with their citation. If possible, photocopies of such precedents should accompany the notification and, in any event, a sufficient number of photocopies of precedents must be available at the hearing for use by the panel and the representative of the Secretary of State. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the hearing of your case being delayed or adjourned.

6. The hearing will usually be held in the Boardroom of the Lifer Management Unit, HMP Maghaberry. However, if you are a recalled prisoner being detained outside Northern Ireland the hearing will be heard in the establishment in which you are being detained.

7. A room will be available for you and your representative and any witnesses to be called on your behalf to consult. A separate room will be available for the Secretary of State's representative and his witnesses. When the hearing is ready to begin, you will be escorted into the hearing room along with all the others participants listed below.

The Participants

8. The Panel is made up of three Commissioners. The function of the panel is to consider your suitability for release. In each case, one of the panel members is appointed to act as the chair of the panel. The Chairman of the panel will usually be a lawyer. One of the other panel members will be a psychiatrist or psychologist and the third panel member will be a person with relevant experience in this field. Each of the panel members is entitled to an equal voice on questions of law, procedure and substance. The panel will try to keep the proceedings as informal as possible.

9. The Secretary is a member of the Commissioners' Secretariat and is responsible for administrative duties during the oral hearing. The Secretary will take notes during the hearing. Although the panel may grant permission for the taking of notes by other persons, the Rules prohibit information about the proceedings or the names of any persons concerned from being made public -see also Paragraph 16.

10. The Secretary of State is normally represented by a lawyer from the Crown Solicitor's Office and/or a prison governor. The governor is not there to give formal evidence about the prisoner, but may be asked general questions about the management of life sentence prisoners.

11. Your representative is the person you have chosen to represent you at the hearing.

11.1 Please note that although there may be lawyers present, their role is to represent the interests of their client. They are not the focus of the hearing. As far as possible, the hearing will be conducted in a way that is easily understood by all parties, using ordinary language and avoiding legal phrases such as 'cross-examination' and 're-examination'.

12. Witnesses are people called by either you or the Secretary of State to give oral evidence at the hearing. In keeping with the informality of the hearing, witnesses are not required to give evidence on oath.

13. Observers are people granted permission by the Chairman of the panel to attend the hearing while taking no active part. These could include other Life Sentence Review Commissioners, but only the three panel members will play a role in the deliberations of the panel during and after the hearing.

14. The three members of the panel will sit facing you, your representative and the Secretary of State's representative. The Secretary will sit on one side of the panel and the witnesses will sit on the opposite side of the panel while giving evidence. Unless the Chairman of the panel directs otherwise, only expert and professionally qualified witnesses can expect to be present during the entire hearing.

15. The panel's task is to consider your suitability for release. The hearing lets the panel examine all the relevant evidence in depth, including your views and the views of the Secretary of State. The panel members may ask you questions and you should do your best to answer them.

15.1 Please note that if you have had a tariff set you must satisfy the panel that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm that you be confined. Serious harm has been defined by the Commissioners as being "death or serious personal injury, whether physical or psychological, arising from a criminal offence committed by the prisoner and psychological injury should be understood as meaning serious psychological stress, or mental illness". It must be clear that the risk of you committing serious harm if you are released on licence is no more than minimal.

15.2 If you have never had a tariff set but have been recalled to prison, the panel is required to have due regard to the need to protect the public from serious harm from life prisoners and also the desirability of preventing the commission by life prisoners of other offences and securing the rehabilitation of life prisoners. You must satisfy the panel that there is no more than a minimal risk of serious harm resulting if you are again released on licence.

Confidentiality of the Oral Hearing

16. The hearing will be held in private and those present must not subsequently make public any information about the proceedings or the names of any of those taking part.

17. This section outlines the way in which a hearing normally proceeds, but it is important to remember that the panel has discretion as to how it is conducted therefore this can vary. Your representative or the Secretary of State's representative may also make applications to the panel at the beginning of the hearing if they want to vary the proceedings.

18. The panel will try to keep the proceedings as informal as possible. The Chairman will direct his or her opening remarks to you, introduce all the participants and outline how the hearing will proceed. (You may be asked whether you object to the presence of any of the observers and, if so, why.)

19. The Chairman will ask the Secretary of State's representative to give the Secretary of State's view on what the outcome of your case should be. The Chairman will then ask your representative to state what decision and/or recommendation you will be asking the panel to make. This should be a short statement of fact. The Chairman will allow each party to make a closing statement at the end of the hearing.

20. The Chairman will then ask the Secretary of State's representative, to call his or her witnesses. The witnesses will usually be asked questions in the following order:

20.1 The Chairman may, however, decide that panel members may ask questions before the witness is questioned by the Secretary of State's representative or your representative. If so, this will be intended to focus the questioning on what the panel regards as the important issues in your case.

21. Once all the Secretary of State's witnesses have been heard, your representative will be asked to call your witnesses. This time, the order in which the witnesses will be asked questions will be as follows:

22. You will have an opportunity to speak on your own behalf if you wish. You may be asked questions by your own representative, the Secretary of State's representative and by members of the panel. It is important that you try to answer all questions put to you, including those from the panel.

23. Once all the evidence has been heard, the Chairman will ask the Secretary of State's representative to sum up in light of all the evidence presented and to make a closing statement. After that, your representative will be asked to sum up and to make a closing statement.

24. Finally, the Chairman will explain that when the panel reaches its decision it will be sent in writing to you within seven days. A copy of the decision will also be sent to your representative, and to the Prison Service.

25. At the end of the hearing, if the panel is satisfied that the level of risk you pose is no more than minimal, then it is required by law to direct that you should be released. This decision may be taken by a majority but will be presented as the decision of the entire panel. The Secretary of State must comply with the panel's direction to release.

26. The panel may also make recommendations about licence conditions attached to your release. The Secretary of State does not have to accept such recommendations but he cannot impose any licence condition that has not been recommended by the Commissioners.

27. If the panel is not satisfied about the level of risk you pose it must make it clear that no direction for release is being made. The panel will also recommend when your case should be reviewed again.

28. Whichever decision the panel makes, it must give their reasons in writing. Neither you nor the Secretary of State can appeal against the Commissioners' decision though it is open to either party to seek to challenge it by Judicial Review.

Background

The Commissioners

Chapter Three

Casework

A step-by-step guide for prisoners

NOTE: The advice given in this Guide may be changed if the Life Sentence Review Commissioners consider that additional or amended information should be included for the benefit of prisoners.

THE LEGISLATION

The Participants

Confidentiality of the Oral Hearing