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"Ministers must guarantee that he receives only the medically necessary treatment and is returned to prison as soon as doctors permit. Compassion for mental illness cannot come at the expense of justice"

The transfer of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana from prison to Broadmoor will feel like another cruel blow to the families whose children he murdered.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe were robbed of their lives. Eight other children and two adults were attacked. Their loved ones now deserve answers about why this decision was made, particularly so close to the second anniversary.

Mental illness is real, serious and must never be dismissed. Broadmoor treats patients whose conditions require specialist care under intense security. Yet there must also be honesty about the differences between hospital and prison.

Reports that Rudakubana could receive benefits or enjoy greater freedoms will understandably create anger and the impression that his life has improved while his victims’ families serve a sentence without end. His 52-year minimum term remains.

Ministers must guarantee that he receives only the medically necessary treatment and is returned to prison as soon as doctors permit. Compassion for mental illness cannot come at the expense of justice.

'A welcomed start'

Protecting those whose only income is the state pension from paying income tax is a welcome start.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey are right to prevent people who have worked all their lives from being dragged into the tax system simply because the triple lock pushes their pension above the frozen £12,570 allowance.

To many, Britain currently feels like a country where almost every part of life carries a government charge - energy, housing, transport, childcare, parking and from April even pensions in death. Fiscal drag has quietly forced millions to pay more tax without ministers formally raising a single rate.

But Mr Burnham must now go further. Families and pensioners need breathing space from a system that keeps taking more while offering less security in return.

'Extraordinary discovery'

For two years, Dave Green and Andrea Urmston worked side by side, never knowing they were brother and sister.

Their extraordinary discovery brought him back to the mother who had never stopped missing him.

Families can be separated by circumstance, but love has a remarkable way of finding the road home.

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