Mercy Muroki: 'I want to see whole life orders for child rapists and violent murderers normalised'

Many people will be waking up this morning to the harrowing detail revealed in the sentencing hearing of ex Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sarah Everard in March of this year.

It’s been reported that Couzens COULD be handed a whole life order – meaning, he would die behind bars. That life would truly mean life. Which I believe is exactly what he deserves.

But life doesn’t mean life for the overwhelming majority of those who are handed this sentence for the worst of crimes.

There are currently only around 60 criminals in the UK serving whole life orders. That’s ONLY 1% of those who OUR justice system say have committed crimes so heinous they deserve to spend decades behind bars. The other 99% - murderers, violent criminals, the worst among us in society - will one day be free.

I believe this is unacceptable - there are too many people who will one day be free who don’t ever deserve to be. Rapists and murders, child killers, pedophiles. Anyone who has ever listened to me opine on our justice system will know that I think there’s an overwhelming moral case for certain kinds of criminals to never be allowed out.

I want to see whole life orders for child rapists and violent murderers normalised - but our justice system is incredibly queezy in handing down this tariff.

Many people argue against it on cost grounds - that we already pay too much to keep prisoners in prison. There’s much truth to this. The average cost to the taxpayer of holding one prisoner for a year is around 44 thousand pounds – around 120 pounds a day. In total, the overall expenditure on prisons sits at 3 and a half billion pounds.

A number that is spiralling.Keeping the most serious offenders locked up is even more, reportedly nearly double that cost.

In fact, the price we pay for keeping prisoners behind bars is reported to be higher per capita than any EU country, and even America, which houses 1 in 4 of the world’s prison population.Now, there are so many questions to be asked about our justice system.

Issues about the resources spent on low level crime, about inadequate rehabilitation of those who only deserve limited sentences, issues about race disparities, about overcrowding, issues about drugs and gang violence WITHIN prison walls.

The question has to be asked – if the moral case for keeping more prisoners locked up behind bars until death is strong, if we as a society think it’s pressing that this change happens, and happens fast – are we, the public, willing to stomach the cost?

My personal response is yes. Look, I’m ideologically averse to higher and higher taxes as a solution to society’s problems. But would I be willing to pay more taxes to ensure the worst among us never get a chance to roam the streets again? Yes – I absolutely would.