The killer of school headmaster Philip Lawrence has lost his High Court battle against Home Secretary John Reid's decision to return him from open to closed prison conditions.
Lawyers for Learco Chindamo, who at the age of 15 fatally stabbed Mr Lawrence, accused Mr Reid of acting improperly to save "political face".
Chindamo was one of 25 foreign "lifers" moved back to a closed prison earlier this year after public outrage at a failure to deport foreign prisoners and fears of them absconding from open jails.
Flo Krause, appearing for Chindamo, now 26, argued that his forced return to closed conditions in May was part of Mr Reid's "knee-jerk reaction to frenzied media attention".
She said the move was irrational and amounted to unlawful discrimination and a disproportionate interference with Chindamo's private rights under Articles 14 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
But Mr Justice Underhill, sitting at the High Court in London, rejected the challenge and dismissed Chindamo's application for judicial review.
The judge said the dangers of foreign prisoners absconding was "a perfectly legitimate consideration" for Mr Reid to have taken into account "not less so because such incidents would be politically damaging to the Government".
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