Among a U.K. prison population of close to 100,000, fewer than 40 men and women have been told they will end their days in a prison cell. Collected here are the stories of those most depraved killers whose crimes outraged society and demanded the harshest penalty available in British court. From men who crossed continents to slay youngsters to contract killers who relished their grizzly calling, the court cases of Britain's lifers are covered in graphic and harrowing detail. Never-before-published information about these extraordinary offenders is provided, and interviews with police, lawyers, and the relatives of the victims and killers describe how the truth behind these awful crimes was pieced together. Gripping and alarming, these are the stories of the 37 killers deemed beyond redemption.