A killer who bludgeoned a skin specialist to death with a hammer will be able to apply for parole next month after a judge overturned a decision that he should die in jail.

Reginald Wilson, 42, killed the doctor with 17 hammer blows to the head after tricking his way into his home. He was convicted of murder in 1991 and three years later Michael Howard, then Home Secretary, decided that he must stay in jail for his whole life.

After reviewing the case, Mr Justice Tugenhadt ruled yesterday that there was no justification for a whole-life tariff in Wilson’s case. He cut the tariff to 18 years, which means that, after time on remand is taken into account, Wilson may apply to be released next month.

The judge said in the High Court that Wilson would be released only if the Parole Board considered that he was no longer a risk to the public.

The judge said that Wilson pretended to be a motorcycle courier with a parcel when he tricked his way into David Birkett’s home on Teesside.

A search of Wilson’s home found a cache of arms, including a sawn-off shotgun and crossbows. Scientific examination of an apparently blank piece of paper disclosed a plan to kill police officers.

Lawyers for Wilson said in the application to overturn the whole-life tariff that at the time there had been medical evidence showing that he suffered from an “untreatable psychopathic disorder”.

Mr Justice Tugendhat said that, despite the degree of planning and the brutality of the killing, the case was not one where a whole-life tariff was justified.

Under legislation passed in 2002, the starting point for the minimum term for a single murder is 15 years and the starting point for a whole-life tariff is normally where there are two or more murders committed that involve a degree of premeditation, abduction of the victim and or sexual and sadistic conduct.

The judge said the starting point in setting the minimum term that Wilson must serve was 15 years, before increasing it to 18 because of the “extreme violence” carried out.

Mr Justice Potts, the trial judge, said after Wilson’s conviction that he was highly dangerous and highlighted his “considerable potential for causing harm to others”.

He recommended that he serve the whole of his life in jail and referred to another charge of attempting to murder a prison officer while awaiting trial, which had been left on the file.

Lord Lane, then Lord Chief Justice, agreed that Wilson should remain in jail for his whole life.

But Mr Justice Tugendhat said that Lord Lane’s reasons for making the recommendation were unclear. He added that in making a whole-life tariff, Mr Justice Potts appeared to have “confused” the distinct issues of the risk posed by Wilson because of his mental illness and the length of time needed for retribution and deterrence.

The judge upheld whole-life tariffs in two other cases yesterday.

Jeremy Bamber, now 46, was told that he would die in prison. Bamber, serving life for the murder of his adoptive parents, his sister and her two twin sons at their farmhouse in Essex in 1985, had asked for a specific minimum term to be set.

Mr Justice Tugendhat said that after reviewing the case he upheld the original whole-life tariff: “These murders were exceptionally serious. In my judgment, you ought to spend the whole of the rest of your life in prison.”

Arthur Hutchinson, serving life after killing Basil Laitner, his wife, Avril, and their son Richard when he gatecrashed a wedding reception in Sheffield, in 1984, was told that he would die in prison. Hutchinson, now 67, claimed that the Home Secretary’s involvement in setting the whole-life tariff had violated his human rights.

But Mr Justice Tugendhat said: “It is right that Hutchinson should remain in prison for the rest of his life by way of punishment.

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