Member

As noble Lords have said, this amendment is motivated by the tragic case of the murder of former prison officer Lenny Scott. Like so many of our dedicated and hard-working prison officers, Lenny devoted his career to working with some of this country’s most dangerous and challenging offenders. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, for raising his case today. In Lenny’s case, the judge considered that this starting point did not apply as he was not a serving prison officer at the time of the murder. However, the judge did impose a life sentence, with a 45-year minimum term to be served in custody, so it is likely that the perpetrator in this case will spend the rest of his life in prison given that he was 35 at the time of conviction.