Evil Arthur Hutchinson, nicknamed The Fox, murdered three members of a family and raped a teenage girl. A High Court judge has ruled he must remain in jail for the rest of his life.

Easington-born Hutchinson, 67, who lived in Hartlepool, was jailed in 1984 for butchering wealthy Sheffield solicitor Basil Laitner, his wife Avril, and their son Richard, in a frenzied knife attack that was described during his trial as an "orgy of violence".

He also repeatedly raped the family's teenage daughter, Nicola, at knifepoint in an attack which came just hours after they celebrated a family wedding on October 23, 1983.

The court heard he had bragged of the killings to terrified Nicola and even made her walk through the blood-soaked scene of her parents' slayings before she was raped.

The jury at his trial had to sit through a gruesome eight-minute video of the horror murder scene that showed Avril Laitner dead beside her bed before the camera panned to her husband's body on a flight of stairs. It went on to show their son Richard lying dead on his bed, grasping a wound to his chest.

Hutchinson was jailed by the trial judge for 18 years, before the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan ruled he should remain in prison for life.

His legal team called for a review of the sentence – but their claims were dismissed yesterday.

Giving his ruling, Mr Justice Michael Tugendhat said there was "no reason at all" to depart from the life tariff set by the Home Secretary. He said: "These were exceptionally serious murders, and it is right that the applicant should remain in prison for the rest of his life by way of punishment."

Hutchinson, who was convicted of three murders, rape and aggravated burglary in 1984 at Durham Crown Court, had argued his tariff should be set at 18 years, which would have made him eligible now for early release on licence.

He claimed the involvement of the Home Secretary in setting a full-life tariff had breached his human rights. He argued the original recommendation of a minimum term of 18 years, given by the trial judge in his case, should be substituted for the Home Secretary's decision.

However, the judge ruled that there were "very serious aggravating factors" to the case.

He said: "In addition to the murders there is the rape of the 18-year-old daughter of two of the victims.

"In addition to the other material before the court are victim impact statements from members of the family including the victim of that rape.

"She describes the circumstances which I would characterise as involving sadistic as well as sexual conduct." He added: "There are no mitigating factors."