US whole-life sentence does not breach human rights, says judge

US prosecutors say Marcus Bebb-Jones, 46, murdered his wife Sabrina in 1997 before dumping her body.

The professional gambler was arrested last year in a raid at his home in Kidderminster amid accusations he went on to spend thousands of dollars on her credit cards before botching a suicide bid.

District Judge Howard Riddle, at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, sent the case on to the Secretary of State for a decision on whether he is to be extradited.

He said that if life without parole was imposed, it would fall short of inhuman and degrading treatment, and he was satisfied that extradition was compatible with Bebb-Jones's human rights.

The judge said the defence had argued that there remained a real risk that Bebb-Jones could receive the death penalty. But the District Attorney said the State of Colorado would not seek it.

The judge said the case was aggravated by a number of features, including the facts that the victim was the mother of a small child and that her full remains have never been found.

He said of the full life sentence: "I accept the possibility that some people would consider such a sentence to be grossly disproportionate. However it is not obviously or clearly grossly disproportionate. On these facts the prospect of a whole life term falls short of inhuman and degrading treatment."

Prosecutors representing the US government have claimed that the poker player shot himself in the head after allegedly killing his wife in a Colorado national park in 1997. Her skull was not found until 2004.

Mr Aaron Watkins, representing the US government had told the court Bebb-Jones came up with a number of contradictory stories to explain her absence and went to Las Vegas where he spent thousands of dollars, partially using credit cards in his wife's name before putting a gun in his mouth and shooting himself in the head.

Before her murder, the couple ran a hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Bebb-Jones' counsel said he would be making representations to the Home Secretary and there would be an appeal against the decision of the district judge if extradition is approved.