British Prime Minister David Cameron has expressed extreme disappointment over a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
A group of murderers who are facing life in prison brought a case to the Strasbourg court that it was inhumane and degrading for them to have no prospect of release. The court agreed.
The judges ruled by 16 to one there had to be a review of the sentence and the possibility of a release.
But they said this did not mean there was "any prospect of imminent release".
"Without the possibility of having his life sentence reviewed,'' the judges said, ''there is the risk that he can never atone for his offence: whatever the prisoner does in prison, however exceptional his progress towards rehabilitation, his punishment remains fixed and unreviewable.
"If anything, the punishment becomes greater with time: the longer the prisoner lives, the longer his sentence."
The BBC reports the government cannot appeal against the ruling. It now has six months to consider its response.
However, Jeremy Bamber, who murdered five members of his family, said on a website that the verdict was "hollow" as he was still serving a sentence for a crime he did not commit.
The BBC reports Bamber brought the case to the court's upper chamber, along with serial killer Peter Moore and double murderer Douglas Vinter, after losing a previous appeal.
Former Labour home secretary David Blunkett said his government changed the law in 2003 "so that life really meant life when sentencing those who had committed the most heinous crimes".
"Whatever the technical justification the Strasbourg court may have, it is the right of the British Parliament to determine the sentence of those who have committed such crimes..." he said.
