Ministers respond to ruling on 'life means life' sentences Currently 52 criminals are serving whole-life sentences including Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper; Ian Brady, the Moors murderer; and Rosemary West, the "House of Horrors" serial killer. Last year's appeal saw Jeremy Bamber, who murdered five members of his family, winning his case - with two other murderers - as European judges ruled it was "inhuman and degrading" to jail someone for the rest of their life without possibility of review. There is no right of appeal against the judgment and ministers will now have to amend the law to ensure it complies with human rights legislation, or face challenges for release by the killers. We're not going to rush into a full response. This is more of a holding letter and there will be more discussion later," said a government source. One triple killer has already escaped a whole life tariff because of the European ruling - a decision the Attorney General is due to challenge as "unduly lenient" in the Court of Appeal later this month. Arthur Hutchinson, another triple murderer, has lodged an appeal on the back of last year's ruling in a bid to have his sentence declared a breach of his human rights.