I don't think a whole life order is on the cards. I read over the sentencing guidelines again last night for a whole life order and I think the wording is ambiguous.
a) the murder of two or more persons where each murder involves a substantial degree of premeditation, the abduction of the victim, or sexual or sadistic conduct;
b) the murder of a child if involving the abduction of the child or sexual or sadistic motivation;
c) a murder done for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause; or
d) a murder by an offender previously convicted of murder.
Now, I read that as abduction OR sexual OR sadistic but I think it should actually read "abduction of the child FOR sexual or sadistic motivation"
I still think it will be a strong sentence because it was sadistic in my opinion (for what it's worth) which attracts a starting point of 30 years. It just always seems that the murder of children in domestic settings is treated less seriously than a child who is abducted and I don't understand why that is. Surely a child murdered by their own parent(s) is worse?