Britain breached the human rights of a murderer and his wife by refusing them access to IVF treatment, the European Court ruled yesterday.

Kirk Dickson, 35, and his wife Lorraine now have the right to start a family even though he is serving a life sentence.

The couple, who met via a pen pal network while Mrs Dickson was also in prison, were determined to have a baby but Dickson’s earliest release date from a minimum 15-year sentence is 2009, when Mrs Dickson, of Beverley, East Yorkshire, will be 51.

The Dicksons, who married in 2001, argued that artificial insemination was their only chance to have a child of their own and that a Home Office decision to deny them access to treatment breached their human rights.

They had launched a legal battle in October 2001, but David Blunkett, then Home Secretary, rejected their claim. The Dicksons took their fight to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where, in April 2006, they lost again.

However, the court’s Grand Chamber overturned that ruling yesterday, voting 12 to 5 in favour of allowing the couple access to the treatment and awarding them €5,000 (£3,500) in damages and €21,000 in costs.

The couple’s lawyer, Elkan Abrahamson, said last night that they were both elated at the decision. However, it would make little difference because Dickson was now in an open prison and allowed home leave.

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