Brian Whitelock: Could triple killer have been stopped?

The Probation Service said it was also conducting its own review.

Whole life orders are reserved for the most severe cases.

Nurse Lucy Letby, April Jones killer Mark Bridger and Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard while he was a police officer, were all given whole life orders.

Sentencing Whitelock at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Mr Justice Griffiths called the murder a “frenzy of violence”.

“[Wendy] knew what you were doing to her. Her injuries included injuries to her hands while she tried to defend herself, but of course she was no match for you,” he said.

“You described it as torture, and that’s what it was.”

He added: “You described her as like a second mother to you. She deserved nothing but gratitude, but you brutally murdered her anyway and you have never, ever suggested a motive.”

Wendy’s family were joined in court for the sentencing by the families of Whitelock’s previous victims, Nicky Morgan and Glen Whitelock. Nine of the 12 jurors from his trial also returned to see him sentenced.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Wendy Buckney’s sister Ann said Wendy knew about Whitelock’s past but had given him odd jobs to do around her flat because she felt he deserved a “second chance”.

Applause broke out in the court room when the whole life sentence was handed down.