Life should mean life for murderers who kill police officers, the chairman of the Police Federation told the Home Secretary this morning.

Paul McKeever said that in the absence of capital punishment the only suitable sentence for someone who killed an officer in the line of duty was a full life term.

"It is a deeply uncivilised society that puts the rights of murderers above those brave men and women we represent who day in day out are defending their communities," Mr McKeever said in his keynote address to the federation's annual conference in Bournemouth.

Jacqui Smith was on the platform for the speech and addressed the conference later before answering questions from rank and file officers.

Mr McKeever said that he was particularly angered by the decision of the Appeal Court not to impose a full-life term on David Bieber, who murdered PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds in 2003 and reports that Harry Roberts, who shot dead three policemen in 1966, might be released on parole.

"How can any civil society consider releasing a vile monster like Roberts? How could an odious man like Bieber be allowed to have his sentence reduced?" Mr McKeever asked.

"Did they consider the rights of the officers they brutally murdered or the rights of their families left behind?"

He added: "Never again must the rights of people like Roberts and Bieber be put above the rights of police officers and the law-abiding majority.

"I will reiterate, in the absence of capital punishment, the only outcome for these two vile criminals is for them to see the end of their days in their prison cells."

Mr McKeever went on to criticise the criminal justice system, which he said was failing the police and the public. Politicians, he said, had resorted to constant meddling with policing, which was adding to rather than solving problems.

He said: "Politicians have painted themselves into a corner here. They have promulgated the big lie that they can solve crime by reshaping the police service and, of course, they can't.

"But what this means for us is that we're in a constant state of flux, with politicians saying 'if only the police service would modernise or change then all will be well'.

"This means we will never be left alone as we can never be seen as fit for purpose, otherwise politicians would themselves have to be answerable to the electorate as to why crime goes on being committed.

"In effect, in the eyes of politicians, the police are the problem that needs to be solved, when the reality is that it is the criminals who are the problem and we are the solution."

Ms Smith told the conference that she hoped the torrent of criticism directed at police in the wake of the G20 protests would not deter new recruits. She said that there had been “too much police-bashing” in the aftermath of the protests but she refused to blame Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, who was highly critical of the police operation.

“I think it is pretty important in this country for the confidence we have in policing that we also have an Independent Police Complaints Commission,” she said.

“That does mean sometimes the chairman will say things that I do not like and sometimes the police do not like.”

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