Thomas McDowell

Thomas McDowell (born 1977) is a convicted British murderer. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3704228.stm]

McDowell was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, but later moved to London, England.

He murdered homosexual German-born trainee rabbi Andreas Hinz, 27, in Camden on 3 July 2002, by strangling him before dismembering his body.

At McDowell's trial two years later, it was revealed that he had been abused as a child and grew up with a sense of hatred towards homosexuals, as well as suffering from a personality disorder. He had also been working as a male prostitute. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/sep/15/ukcrime]

McDowell admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was sentenced to life imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on 30 September 2004. The trial judge spoke of his doubt as to whether it would ever be thought safe to release McDowell back into the community, and recommended that he should never be released. He began his life sentence at Rampton Hospital in Lincolnshire.

McDowell is one of around 30 prisoners currently in the prison system who have been recommended for lifelong imprisonment. In February 2007, it was reported that the European Court of Justice was reviewing such sentences to determine whether they amounted to a violation of human rights. The review has yet to be completed, but if lifelong imprisonment is outlawed, McDowell and all other prisoners serving such sentences (in the UK and the rest of Europe) will have their cases recalled to court for new minimum terms to be set.