Lifers: Inside the Minds of Britain's Most Notorious Criminals

by Geoffrey Wansell

Geoffrey Wansell's Lifers is a chilling and fascinating look inside the minds of some of the world's most notorious criminals and serial killers.

In this ground-breaking book, Wansell brings together interviews and original first-hand accounts from some of the most feared and dangerous criminals on the planet. Lifers offers a glimpse inside the minds of murderers as well as a chance to understand what it really means when 'life means life'.

Having observed lifers over more than twenty years, often up close and very personal, Geoffrey Wansell's Lifers will reveal more of the criminal mind than has ever before been seen.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

420 pages, Hardcover

First published September 8, 2015

About the author

Geoffrey Wansell is a London based author and free-lance journalist, who now works principally for the Daily Mail.

He’s published twelve books, including biographies of the movie star Cary Grant, the business tycoon Sir James Goldsmith, and the playwright Sir Terence Rattigan, a book which was short-listed for the Whitbread Prize as book of the year.

Geoffrey Wansell is an experienced true crime author whose past books include The Bus Stop Killer, about the shocking murder of Milly Dowler, and An Evil Love, telling the story of Frederick West through exclusive access to tape recordings.

A member for more than 25 years, he is also the official historian of the Garrick Club in London, one of only four appointed during the Club’s 185 years of existence.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a peculiar book. It's written (pretty badly) with one purpose, to examine the concept of the whole life sentence, and chart its pathway through the thickets of English criminal law, and ultimately to protest that a whole life sentence is a “delayed death sentence”, and remind us all that most countries don’t do this, and it's probably morally wrong.

Although many countries have maximum sentences of 50 years, which seems like the same thing to me.

Anyway, the morality of all of this is above my paygrade, so I will not be jumping into that argument.

In order to think about this question Geoffrey Wansell has to present to our gaze all the gory details of the very goriest of recent English crimes, and after a while it seems that this chamber of horrors is the real reason for the book, and not the legal ruminations at all. And a part of me was saying “yes, and the real reason you’re reading it too, Geoffrey knows his audience”.

HOW MANY WHOLE LIFERS IN ENGLAND ?

The Ministry of Justice declines to give a precise figure for the number of prisoners serving [a whole life sentence], but this book can reveal that there are more than fifty, if not sixty, “whole lifers” – including two women.

A BIT OF HISTORY

The death penalty was suspended in 1965 in England and abolished in 1969. This left judges with the sentence of life imprisonment. But life did not mean life in the great majority of cases. It meant “until the parole board releases you on license”. This is because all murders are different.

After some years passed the public found out that the average time a murderer spent in prison before being released on license was nine years. They did not like that. For some really grim crimes, therefore, judges began assigning a minimum term to be served, before there is the possibility of parole. Say, 18 years, or 35 years.

We see that when a horrible murderer is given one of these sentences the victim’s family will be outraged that the sentence is not a whole life one, even if the said murderer will be 75 before there is the possibility of parole. People say extreme things just after the murderer of one of their close relatives has been sentenced, and the media captures every agonized statement. Bring back the death penalty, hanging’s too good for him, they should throw away the key, may he rot in hell, he’s got a cushy life inside now – it’s all said over and over again. E.g.

He can do what he wants. He has hobbies and a TV and the gym and meals every day. They live the life of Riley. I say let him rot in hell.

In fact there's a weird grisly ritual that happens at these nastier murder trials, when the judge tells the zombie murderer just what a dreadful thing he did, like he never really realised it, so this is going to really open his eyes; then outside the court the victims' families make statements about how their lives are wrecked forever and how great the police have been; then the police make a statement about what a traumatic enquiry this was and how monstrous the murderer was, like we hadn't been paying any attention for the two weeks of the trial. Almost every phrase these people make has been used in similar sad circumstances umpteen times before, but still, at every big English trial, this will happen.


(And when Geoffrey discusses the legal aspects of whole life sentences, he also says the same thing over and over again. This book is very repetitive very repetitive.)

AND ANYWAY, WHAT DO PEOPLE CALL JUSTICE?

But her husband [Frederick West] was to escape justice completely when he committed suicide in his cell

Didn’t we just hear from the public that hanging should be brought back? But when someone hangs themselves we then complain that they have evaded justice? I think these concepts, justice, punishment, rehabilitation and so forth, are hopelessly confused.

NEVERTHELESS

Nevertheless this is a very useful book for summarizing many of the most curious and dramatic cases of the last 20 years, like Dale Cregan who shot two policewomen and then blew them up with hand grenades, that was pretty unusual; or Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale who (very nearly) beheaded an English soldier in broad daylight on a London street, then stuck around talking to the public who filmed them explaining their actions and waited for the cops to show up.

AN INTERESTING CASE : JOANNA DENNEHY



This nice little girl grew up to be Britain’s Aileen Wuernos. She stabbed three middle aged men to death in 2013. Unlike the famous Myra Hindley and Rosemary West, she wasn’t under the influence of her partner. Au contraire, she influenced her boyfriends into helping her do her murders and dump the bodies. So she is that very rare thing, a female serial killer, and even rarer, one that didn’t poison family members (there are several of those) but murdered strangers, just like your Ted Bundy.

I killed to see how I would feel, to see if I was as cold as I thought I was. Then it got moreish.



Her and Rosemary West are the only whole life women.

WHAT WAS THAT, GEOFFREY?

Our author is inclined to make some dubious observations.

One friend alleges Bamber was sexually assaulted at his boarding school, which may have encouraged a trait of bisexuality

Huh? Read that back – being assaulted might make you bisexual?

In the thirty-two years he has spent in almost constant solitary confinement, Maudsley’s health is reported to have declined

Hmmm – don’t old guys often experience declining health even if they’re not in solitary?

And how about this :

his is an ego so deeply depraved that it insinuates itself into everything and everyone he meets.

Does that actually mean anything?

MOST USED ADJECTIVE IN THIS BOOK

Heinous

This pops up at least once every other page but when I came across three heinouses on page 281 I wondered if Mr Wansell had ever run across a thesaurus. It’s a kind of dictionary which lists synonymous words so you don’t have to bore your readers with the same words all the time.
Synonyms for heinous :
abhorrent
abominable
atrocious
hateful
hideous
horrendous
infamous
nefarious
odious
outrageous
revolting
shocking
unspeakable
vicious
execrable
frightful

If you downed a shot of tequila every time the phrase “the most heinous of crimes” is used you’d be dead before page 50.

A CURIOUS PATTERN

began to emerge from many of these execrable crimes. The guy (they’re all guys except for Joanna) explodes into unimaginable violence and kills one or two women. He makes feeble attempts to get rid of the bodies, or no attempts. He wanders off. The police arrive. Within a week they have their man, the perp has not made it difficult for them. After he’s in custody he goes into zombie mode. Blank stares. In court no sign of life. Sentence is passed, whole life. Not a flicker. The victims’ families are baying and howling, he’s Mr Impassive. Off he goes to the Scrubs. Then either a) he appeals and loses his appeal, or b) he doesn’t appeal. End of story.

I can only think that the outburst of ultra-violence was the whole point of the guy’s life, and after he does it, he has no purpose. Like, that’s what I came here to do. Kill my wife and my kids. Or two random women in a park. Now I’ve done it, can’t think of a single other thing I want to do.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty standard true crime book that examines the concept of whole life terms in England and Wales, and critically if they are ever justified. There are plenty of notable cases discussed within this book and several others that, for whatever reason, didn’t generate as much public attention (I can only attribute that to the brutality of the crimes, particularly if they involved children hence the media silence).

Some passages of the book appeared as if written by a college student taking a criminology course: it’s very A plus B equals C, without much depth to the cases discussed. Also there are a few lines generated by the authors own opinion that may raise a few eyebrows.

Overall, not a terrible read for those interested in true crime and prison lifestyle. It’s a large book, so only those truly invested in the subject will enjoy. I’m glad I read it, however, because the concept of life imprisonment with a minimum term versus a whole life tariff is intriguing and promotes healthy debate.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very interesting look at the meaning of the 'whole life tariff' that is applied to some uniquely wicked people. This book makes you think, and opened my eyes to the sheer volume of murders that have taken place in this country, and the punishments that they receive. Highly recommend.

[Tracy Hollen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very repetitious.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and informative true crime book, although I didn't entirely agree with the author's conclusions regarding whole life tariffs.

It was really interesting and well written, with quite in-depth profiles of some of the people who have been sentenced to a whole life order. The author doesn't shy away from some of the heinous crimes that have been committed, and indeed spends 90% of the book detailing these crimes. It was a bit odd, therefore, that at the very end of the book, he then argues that the people he has been writing about should not have a whole life tariff and that we should develop an alternative method of sentencing.

It just jars with the rest of the book, although his position is well-argued.

Overall a very good true crime book and a great exploration of the current sentencing powers of the UK judiciary.

[teleri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. There were a few things that just annoyed me into stopping, the first being the writing. This is the second book I've read by this author, the first I actually own and didn't really have a problem with, however, the writing in this one was so opinionated that it frustrated me. I feel like when writing a book like this, or anything with such a heavy two-sided argument, you should make your writing unopinionated at least until the very end. It annoyed me where he seemed to be hating the life tariffs, and making that clear whenever he got the chance. It just came across so strong in his writing, I could not cope.

The second thing would be the fact that he's using a mentally ill serial killer as his reasoning for trying to abolish the life tariffs. Okay, that's fine. Except. his example was that of John Straffen: his victims were a five-year-old and a nine-year-old. So, you think this child killer should serve his time and be let free, as you're implying? Well, what about the time he broke out of Broadmoor for four hours and murdered another five years old? Does he really seem like the kind of person that could, and should be released? The author just seemed annoyed by the justice system because Straffen didn't get sentenced to a life tariff, but died after being the longest-serving prisoner in Britain, well, I don't feel like there was any other option for him besides the death penalty, and since the author mentioned a few times, Britain abolished that, seemed like he's dying inside prison walls whether he likes it or not.

Of the 13 percent that I read, it was more than I could take. I just could not face continuing on with the rest of the book: it was that bad.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I picked up this book because I have seen the author on a lot of true crime documentaries and was so taken by how he described events or feelings.

This book focuses of the morality and sustainability of whole life terms, which is a subject I've not seen tackled like this before.

Only two things bothered me, which meant I would actually give this 4.5, and they were: 1, the author repeated himself (needlessly) a couple of times and the editor should have caught this, and 2, that the author constantly refers to evil and monsters when I think that detracts from the crimes. He does it in his documentary appearances too and he is very entitled to his opinions but I disagree.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Lifers' (alternative title 'Pure Evil') is not a deep examination of the crimes for which the offenders depicted within are serving sentences in prison. Rather, it asks about the necessity and appropriateness of the Whole Life Order, where prisoners such as Rose West, Lucy Letby and Dale Cregan are destined to end their days behind bars. Wansell argues that the Whole Life Order leaves inmates without hope of rehabilitation and also highlights where some prisoners fear no reprisals for offences committed in prison because the courts cannot punish them any further.

An interesting, if disturbing, read.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok but not what I expected. There will always be disparity in sentencing and left wing socialists will always defeat mandatory sentencing. A human legal system will always have human issues fraught with decisions that never please all.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good question as to whether life imprisonment is actually a valid sentence for humans. This book mostly discusses more little known British murder cases and the perpetrators.

[Lazy Cornish Cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

quite a depressing and sad book that mainly sets out horrible horrible crimes but does try to question what a life sentence really means and whether it's justified. found it hard going