Double murderer Shaine March recently joined a list of some of the country’s most infamous criminals this week
A whole-life order (often referred to as a whole-life tariff) is the most severe punishment available in the UK legal system. It is a sentencing option used by judges for the most “heinous” crimes, where the offender is ordered to spend the rest of their natural life in prison without any possibility of parole.
Double murderer Shaine March recently joined a list of some of the country’s most infamous criminals after he was given a whole-life order for the murder of his girlfriend while on life licence for a previous killing. The 48-year-old admitted murdering Alana Odysseos, 32, who was pregnant with her third child when she was stabbed 23 times at her home in Walthamstow, east London, in July 2024.
March was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years last October, but was handed a whole-life order on Thursday when judges at the Court of Appeal ruled the original sentence was “unduly lenient”, after the Solicitor General referred the case.
It is the second whole-life order given this month, after Sharaz Ali was told he would die behind bars earlier in March for killing his ex-partner’s sister, nieces and nephew by setting fire to their home in Bradford in 2024.
Triple killer Kyle Clifford was handed a whole-life order in March last year for the murders of his ex-partner Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, and their mother Carol Hunt, 61.
A whole-life order was also handed down in January to double murderer Steve Sansom, for the “bloodthirsty” killing of Sarah Mayhew in a Croydon park, when he was out of prison on life licence for another murder.
Other criminals who have been sentenced to whole-life orders in recent years include child serial killer Lucy Letby, Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens, necrophiliac David Fuller, and Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered MP Sir David Amess.
Around 70 criminals are serving a whole-life order, some in secure hospitals. They will never be considered for release unless there are exceptional compassionate grounds.
Only four women have faced such a punishment: Letby; Myra Hindley, who died in 2002 and was the girlfriend of Moors murderer Ian Brady; and serial killers Rose West and Joanna Dennehy.
Joanna Dennehy is a convicted British serial killer who murdered three men—Lukasz Slaboszewski, Kevin Lee, and John Chapman—in a series of stabbings around Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in March 2013.
Letby was jailed in August 2023 for what a judge described as a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign” of baby murder in the hospital where she worked as a nurse.
Gun fanatic Louis De Zoysa was handed a whole-life order in July 2023 after shooting Metropolitan Police custody sergeant Matt Ratana while handcuffed in a police cell in 2020.
In December 2022, Damien Bendall began a whole-life order for murdering his partner Terri Harris, 35, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, also 11, who was staying for a sleepover.
A year earlier, Fuller was handed the same sentence for the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in 1987, and the sexual abuse of more than 100 dead women and girls in hospital mortuaries.
Milly Dowler’s killer, Levi Bellfield, is serving two whole-life orders – for her murder, the killings of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange, and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.
Other notorious criminals serving whole-life orders include Michael Adebolajo, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby; Mark Bridger, who murdered five-year-old April Jones in Wales; neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, who killed MP Jo Cox; serial killer Stephen Port; and Reading terror attacker Khairi Saadallah, who murdered three men in a park.
In the past, home secretaries could issue whole-life tariffs, as they were previously known, but these are now determined by judges.
Before they died, Brady, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and doctor Harold Shipman – thought to be one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers – were also handed such a punishment.
Under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which became law in 2023, the government expanded the use of whole-life orders for the premeditated murder of a child.
The reforms also allow judges to hand down the maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, such as for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life.
Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi, who was convicted of conspiring with his suicide-bomber brother Salman Abedi over the 2017 atrocity, avoided a whole-life order because he was 21 at the time.
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana could not be sentenced to a whole-life order by law because he carried out the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class nine days before his 18th birthday.
After turning 18 he was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January last year – one of the highest minimum custody terms on record, and thought to be the longest imposed on a killer of his age.
Prisoners Serving Whole-Life Orders
- Shaine March: Murdered his pregnant girlfriend, Alana Odysseos, in July 2024 while on life licence for a previous murder. He was originally sentenced in October 2024, but this was increased to a whole-life order in March 2026.
- Sharaz Ali: Set fire to a home in Bradford in 2024, killing his ex-partner’s sister and three children (nieces and nephew). Sentenced in March 2026.
- Kyle Clifford: Murdered his ex-partner Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah, and their mother Carol. Sentenced in March 2025.
- Steve Sansom: Committed the “bloodthirsty” murder of Sarah Mayhew in 2024 while on life licence for a previous murder. Sentenced in January 2026.
- Lucy Letby: Serial killer who murdered babies while working as a nurse. Sentenced in August 2023.
- Louis De Zoysa: Shot and killed Police Sergeant Matt Ratana while handcuffed in a cell in 2020. Sentenced in July 2023.
- Damien Bendall: Murdered his partner, her two children, and their friend during a sleepover. Sentenced in December 2022.
- David Fuller: Murdered two women in 1987 and sexually abused over 100 dead women and girls in hospital mortuaries. Sentenced in 2021.
- Ali Harbi Ali: Murdered Member of Parliament (MP) Sir David Amess. (Jailed in recent years).
- Wayne Couzens: Kidnapped and murdered Sarah Everard. (Jailed in recent years).
- Levi Bellfield: Murdered Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, and Amelie Delagrange, and attempted to murder Kate Sheedy.
- Michael Adebolajo: One of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
- Mark Bridger: Murdered five-year-old April Jones.
- Thomas Mair: Neo-Nazi who murdered MP Jo Cox.
- Stephen Port: Serial killer (known for the “Grindr” murders).
- Khair Saadallah: Terror attacker who murdered three men in a Reading park.
- Rose West: Serial killer.
- Joanna Dennehy: Serial killer
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