Victor Miller (murderer)

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Victor Miller (born 1955) is a notorious British child killer currently serving a life sentence.

Miller, a homosexual from Penns Fields, Wolverhampton, abducted 14 year old newspaper delivery boy Stuart Gough, an asthmatic, as he completed his round on Hagley, Worcestershire, in February 1988. He sexually assaulted Stuart before hitting him repeatedly with a rock and dumping his body in remote woodland in Hertfordshire. A fortnight later, after fruitless use of helicopters and underwater search teams, Miller's arrest for an unconnected assault prompted him to confess to Stuart's murder and lead police to his body, hidden under a pile of leaves.

During preliminary court proceedings, Miller wrote a letter to Hereford Magistrates Court to express his regrets and ask for justice to be done. It later transpired that he had preyed on newspaper boys as he felt they were especially vulnerable.

The trial judge said that Miller was such a dangerous criminal that he doubted whether it would be safe ever to release him. He recommended that Miller should spent at least 30 years behind bars before parole could be even considered. Police later revealed that they suspected Miller, who worked in computers, was responsible for almost 30 other sexual assaults. Miller's gay lover said after the trial that he still loved him but would not condone nor forgive his actions.

A whole life tariff was subsequently issued to Miller by the Home Secretary, putting him a small and select band of criminals who were informed that they would die in jail. After the European Court of Human Rights declared a politically-set tariff illegal, Miller's tariff was reset at 30 years. Stuart's family were later informed that Miller's case would be reviewed after 25 years, and for every five years thereafter, meaning that the earliest possible release date for Miller is in 2013, when he will be 58. For his part, Miller himself has requested never to be released. His trial judge had also spoken of his uncertainty as to whether it would ever be safe to release Miller.