He was sentenced to life again in October 1991, with a recommendation that he should serve a minimum of 25 years, but was given a whole life tariff by the Home Secretary.

'Body in the Bags' killer may be released early

South Wales Echo

November 26, 2002

A man jailed for life for murdering a prostitute and bludgeoning to death a young New Zealand tourist may have his sentence reviewed.

Malcolm Green was given a life sentence in 1991 for what became known as the Body in the Bags killing - just two years after he had been released from another life term for the murder of a Cardiff prostitute.

The recommendation was that the double killer, from Ely, Cardiff, should serve a minimum of 25 years for the murder of New Zealander Clive Tully - whose torso, head and limbs were found in bags - but was given a whole life tariff by the then Home Secretary.

But now his case is among those which may have to be reviewed following a historic ruling by the Law Lords that Home Secretaries can no longer change sentences.

Cases in which trial judges have recommended minimum terms, but the Home Secretary has decided ``life means life'', include some of the most infamous criminals alive in Britain today.

If their sentences are subsequently set at what the original trial judge recommended, they could be freed sooner than anyone thought.

Green's victim in the Body in the Bags case was identified after a newspaper graphic artist produced a computer-enhanced photograph of the victim. The murder hunt was launched after the grisly discovery of a torso in Rogerstone, followed a few days later by a head and limbs in St Brides, Wentloog.

After Green was tracked down, it emerged he had only recently been released from jail for a similarly gruesome murder 20 years previously, when the victim had also been cut up. He was given a life sentence for the first murder in 1971. It later emerged Green's bloodlust and obsession with mutilation may have been sparked by seeing his younger brother decapitated by a train when he was just 12.