Road rage killer Noye loses bid to have minimum jail term reduced

Road rage killer Kenneth Noye failed yesterday in his bid to have the minimum life term he must serve for murder reduced.

The 63-year-old was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in 2000 for the stabbing murder of 21-year-old Stephen Cameron on the M25 at Swanley in Kent in 1996.

A High Court judge sitting at Newcastle Crown Court ordered that he must spend at least 16 years in jail before he can be considered for parole. The decision means Noye could be freed in six years because of time already spent in jail.

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Noye had applied to the High Court to review his minimum term, set at 16 years in 2002 by the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett.

He said the tariff should be reduced to 10 years to give him credit for time spent in custody after he was arrested in Spain.

He also said he had been suffering depression and post traumatic stress disorder in jail.

Tariffs are now set by judges – prisoners jailed for life who were notified of their minimum term by a Home Secretary can apply to the High Court for a review.

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A reviewing judge will take a number of factors into account, including impact statements from bereaved relatives and the mitigating and aggravating features of the case.

Even if a minimum term is cut an offender may still have to serve many years more, as he or she will not be released until they are no longer regarded as a danger to the public.

Noye was sentenced to life for murdering Mr Cameron during an argument on a motorway slip road in 1996.

He used a nine-inch knife he kept in his car to stab Mr Cameron as the victim's horrified 17-year-old fiancee looked on. The killing sparked an international hunt. He was finally extradited from Spain in 1998.

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Noye had been acquitted of the earlier murder of a police officer but had served 14 years in jail for his part in the 1983 Brinks-Mat bullion robbery.

The mother of his victim said she hoped he would die in jail.

Mrs Cameron, 63, a casualty nurse whose husband Ken is an electrical engineer, said Noye had stolen Stephen's future : "I'm pleased, he should be locked up for ever. I hope he dies in there."

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